


Scared, Potter

by StepTowardsTheLight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bottom Draco Malfoy, Dorms, Draco Malfoy is Bad at Feelings, Draco is kinda innocent, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Harry Potter is Obsessed with Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Minor Draco Malfoy/Blaise Zabini, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Molly Weasley likes Draco, Post-War, Top Harry, some trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:46:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 68,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24866281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StepTowardsTheLight/pseuds/StepTowardsTheLight
Summary: What does the boy who lived have left to lose?For reasons Draco Malfoy would probably never understand Harry Potter had saved him from Azkaban. The Boy Who Lived had, of his own accord, convinced the Winzengamot that Draco was forced to act as he did to save his own life and so was not deserving of a prison sentence. Rather, he was deserving of a second chance. As a result, Draco finds himself returning to Hogwarts, forced to spend every moment of his time with Potter who, even more curiously, agreed to personally watch over Draco. As if he couldn't be anymore inconvenient Potter is annoyingly determined to figure out what Draco went through whilst sharing his home with Voldemort and his most devoted followers.Draco just wants to know why Potter saved him.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 54
Kudos: 339





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is going to be 23 chapters long (including the epilogue). I have 13 chapters written so far and will be publishing them in groups of 5 while I write the rest. This is my first attempt at a proper long fanfiction so I hope everyone enjoys! Please leave comments, I love feedback.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I have 13 chapters of this work written and will be uploading them in groups of 5 in order to give myself time to write the rest of this work. This is my first attempt at a novel length (ish) fanfic so feedback in the form of comments and kudos is hugely appreciated!

When Draco Malfoy found out that the Wizengamot had cleared him of all charges he'd burst into tears. 

He'd seen first hand what Azkaban could do to a man. He'd witnessed his father's mind break after mere weeks in the wizarding prison and, although he liked to think of himself as stronger than his father, he didn't want to test that theory out. With He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named living at the Manor, he'd seen the very worst of the war up close and personal. It was an experience that, most would agree, no one his age should live through and he'd thought, at first, that was why they'd let him off. His mother had been pleading with every journalist she could get to see her his behalf. Grovelling, begging them to see that he had been too young and too scared to resist. She'd never had charges pressed against her. A pleasant side affect of Potter announcing that she'd saved his life. But, this same kindness hadn't been extended to him. However, even with the odd paper siding with his mother and printing his story, painting him as a boy traumatised, it was highly suspicious that the Wizengamot would let _everything_ go so abruptly. They'd already sentenced many his age as, when it came to sympathising with the Dark Lord, it didn't really matter what school year you'd been in. Age would have no impact on your guilt or innocence, thanks to the Ministry's shiny new no acceptance policy and the punitive nature of post-war England. It couldn't be that they felt sorry for him. Draco knew for a fact that they'd had some of the top Aurors gathering evidence against him. If his case went to trial they'd win regardless of any public sympathy. Of course, he knew wasn't guilty of what they were charging him with but, the mark branded into his skin told a very different story. His prosecution didn't need much more evidence than that. As far as the Wizengamot was concerned his guilt was crystal clear, black ink swirling angrily against his pale skin. And yet here he was, being released from the cell he'd been held in for the past 6 months, apparating to his apartment a free man.

Freedom truly was something he'd taken for granted

However, much to Draco's annoyance, no sooner had his feet touched the soft carpet of his living room his freedom was taken again. A body bind spell hit him square in the chest, sending him toppling over. Of course, as an ex-death eater he couldn't even have five minutes to himself he thought sarcastically, glad that his eyes were still capable of moving so he could at least look at his attacker. If it was some stupid vigilante trying to take the law into his own hands he was going to do everything he possibly could to come back as a ghost and haunt the fucking bastard. People didn't seem to realise that killing those who had been cleared by the Wizengamot only made them the bad guys. That was how Nott had died and he'd be damned if he went the same way. Idiots though they were the vigilantes were incredibly creative with their spells. However, when he eventually managed to swivel round enough to see who it was who had hexed him he really wished he'd stayed oblivious. How the fuck did Harry Potter know where he lived? He struggled a little, trying to indicate his indignance towards the situation but, to his annoyance, his efforts did nothing but cause Potter to laugh. Prick. 

At least he had the decency to lift the spell.

"I've been home for two fucking seconds, what the bloody hell do you want ?" And yeah, that was mature but he was on the humiliated side and really did just want a cup of tea. Harry snorted, taking a seat on one of the armchairs, conveniently enough Draco's favourite and smirking widely.

"I came here to say your welcome for getting you off the hook and to tell you the terms the Wizengamot agreed to." And yeah, Draco actually wished he could sink into the fucking ground right about then. He was already on the floor so it wasn't too much of a demand...Sighing heavily he stood up, brushing off his knees and taking a seat himself, blue eyes shooting daggers in Harry's direction. He didn't know why he hadn't realised sooner, Potter was the only person who could persuade the Ministry to let a death eater go but it wasn't something he did often. One eyebrow raised Malfoy crossed his arms over his chest, silently indicating for Harry to explain. "I basically just told them how you tried to protect us at the manor and how you only got the mark because Voldemort wanted revenge against your father, showed them the relevant memories in the pensive and everything so they'd actually buy it which they did but they were hesitant to clear your name entirely, like very hesitant so I had to bargain with them for your freedom slightly, which is where the erm terms and conditions come into play..." Potter trailed off and a look played on his face that made Draco exceptionally nervous.

"What the fuck did you do?" He growled, wanting to know exactly what Harry had promised him before he even uttered a semblance of a thank you.

"Well for one you have to join everyone back at Hogwarts to complete your last year, they want you to either try for Auror training or to do something with potions, there were some documents from Snape's time as your head of house that indicated those were careers you were interested in," Harry spoke slowly, as if gradually easing him into something. It didn't sound too bad for now but he knew Harry wasn't quite finished yet. "Um while at Hogwarts you have to dorm with me and in the holidays you're allowed to go on visits with your mum but you have to reside at the Burrow. And after the school year is over you have to either stay at the burrow or erm...live with me" And ah, there it was.

"Pray tell me, Potter, why am I being treated like your pet by the Ministry?" He spoke coolly, sounding a lot calmer than he actually was. Living with the Weasleys even if only for a couple weeks at a time sounded like...well, hell. None of them liked him for one, both families (mainly his family) had been rather unpleasant to one another over the years and he didn't fancy getting hexed by...well, however many of them there was. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Because they think if you try anything I'll be able to stop you" He droned, as though it was obvious. "I don't really get why you look so horrified, it was either that or go to Azkaban." This time Draco rolled his eyes, although Harry did have a point and he was still somewhat grateful living with the fucking Weasleys and sharing a room with Potter himself was something he was going to have to get used to.

"Please tell me I at least get to live in my own home until school starts." The look on Potter's face told him all he needed to know. "Right then, Mr. Nanny, you'd better come with me to collect my school things up then unless I'm old enough to do it myself?" He drawled out.

"Fuck off Malfoy, I've done you a favour but I suppose I do have to come along with you don't you keep any of your things here?" He stood, looking around the reasonably sized flat that he knew Malfoy had to himself. The man had been under surveillance since the end of the war after all. A sigh left the blonde man's lips as he strode over to Harry, linking his arm so that he could apparate them to the manor, a place he truly hated going but a place that still seemed better than the Weasley's burrow.

"All my normal things are here." Malfoy retorted, waving his wand to produce a trunk that soon began to fill with his regular robes and toiletries as if he was attempting to prove something to the other man. He wasn't. He'd long since outgrown his years of striving for attention from Harry Potter. "However, in case you couldn't remember my last year or two in Hogwarts was just as disrupted as anybody else's and, as they weren't needed, most of my school things were placed in storage at the manor. I haven't cared to go and collect them as of yet." The explanation was short but it was all the explanation Potter was going to get from him. Despite the fact the man had just saved him from Azkaban Potter was no friend, no acquaintance either at this stage and so Draco owed him no look into his private life. A silence lingered between them until the trunk had stopped filling itself prompting Draco to walk over to it, taking the handle in one hand and reaching to grab Harry's arm with the other, apparating them both to the Manor without a word.

"Warning would have been nice?" The man beside him grumbled as their feet hit the floor, causing Draco to roll his eyes and bite back a remark about how Harry should have simply warned him rather than hexing him back at the flat. He kept his head down as he led Harry through the gates of the manor that had once looked so grand and inviting. Now they just looked old and rusted. The gardens had died within a week of he-who-must-not-be-named living there and no one, not even his mother had cared enough to tend them back into their former glory. He was glad that she was in France at that moment, knowing fine well how much she would go out of her way to make Harry welcome. She truly did adore the boy after all of his efforts to restore the Malfoy name, she'd probably make him an honorary member of the ramily upon finding out what he'd done for Draco. "Will you just slow down?" Potter's voice interrupted his thoughts causing him to pinch his nose in frustration, waving his wand to lift the wards that protected the door and leading the man in.

"In case you hadn't realized Potter I'm trying to be quick, now shut up? I should be able to accio everything but it's all in different places and I need to concentrate." He snapped, standing in the entrance hall and trying to ignore all the memories that threatened to play before his eyes. He remembered the way the Lovegood girl had been dragged over this very carpet, leaving a trail of blood as she'd been tortured so violently. He'd felt horrible watching, unable to help as she really had been nothing but nice to him, to everyone. On a couple of occasions he'd snuck down to heal some of her wounds, never all of them for fear the others would notice but just enough to keep her alive. Someone like her had not deserved to die. He blinked, ignoring the feeling of Harry's eyes on his back and stretched out his arm to cast the spell. It took a couple of moments presumably due to everything being tucked quite far out of the way but eventually, his things started to fly into the room. Once everything was there he waved his wand again, double checking that he did, in fact, have everything before magically sending everything neatly into his trunk.

"How do you know folding spells?" He'd almost forgotten Potter's presence. A frown spread across his face as he turned to face the other man, surprised that he didn't even look like he felt out of place in the Manor. It was here Potter had witnessed one of his best friends be horrifically tortured and that had given even Draco nightmares yet here he was looking quite at home whilst Draco felt quite out of place. The look of confusion on his face must have indicated to Harry that he required more information as he spoke again. "I mean, you had Do- house elves."

"Yes, Potter I had house elves but, in case you'd forgotten yourself entirely, he-who-must-not-be-named lived out his last three years in the manor and he wasn't very fond of those who possessed magic that weren't 'pure in blood'. The house elves who weren't killed left and I learnt to do what they had done for me." He spoke firmly, not wanting Harry to take anything he was saying as a vain ploy for pity. Draco knew people had it worse than him, finally, he'd realised that and he was trying to be less...spoilt. Although living with the Weasleys really was pushing his new found good intentions a bit too far. "I'm not a complete invalid you know? Now can you please just apparate us to the...what's their house called again?"

"The Burrow and...erm, they don't know the plan yet so they may be er...well just as shocked as you were and, while you're at it...try not to speak about the battle at Hogwarts in front of Molly? Just act like it's perfectly normal for us to be going back to school yeah?" And ah, Draco had forgotten that one of the Weasley twins had been killed in some sort of explosion. He suddenly felt even more unwelcome. He had the mark branded into his skin and he was going to be living with a family who had lost a son to his supporters. Maybe he should show them how he got the mark...he knew Ron was probably going to be less than accepting of his presence.

"Potter? The Weasley's, like most, are going to think I'm a Death Eater...perhaps you should go ahead of me to warn them before I pop up on their doorstep." Potter looked shocked as if him being nice was so out of the ordinary but eventually, he nodded, somewhat sheepish. The idiot probably hadn't even _thought_ of that. 

"I'll wait here, you go tell them and then come back. And don't worry I'm not going to risk Azkaban by trying to escape. Oh, and If they're really not having any of it..." He conjured a vial then raised his wand to his temple, pulling a silvery thread of his own memory out before placing it in the tiny glass bottle. "Show them this, or show Molly at least. Don't watch it with them, though." Potter had just nodded, accepting the glass vial and pocketing it before apparating from the spot. Draco had to admit, it had felt colder in the Manor once the other had left but that was probably something to do with all the dark magic in the walls, definitely not something to do with him actually enjoying Potter being about. It had been a while since anyone other than his mother had spoken to him, he'd probably enjoy the company of a Goblin at this point.

It took a little over an hour for Draco to hear another pop sound, indicating that Potter had apparated back into the manor and suggesting that he'd felt it necessary to show the Weasleys the memory he'd been entrusted with. It was probably for the best that he had, they'd understand him better that way. Or at least he hoped they would. With a sigh, he walked from where he'd been waiting in the lounge back to the entrance hall where Potter was standing, looking rather anxious as if he suspected Draco had simply apparatus away the moment he was left alone. He had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at the relieved look that spread over The-Boy-Who-Lived's face once he noticed he wasn't alone. Didn't he realise that if Draco had left the manor there would have been no way for him to get back in?

"Shall we go then?" The man spoke cheerily, casually, throwing Draco's memory back at him with an annoying amount of confidence in his face. Draco simply sighed, nodding his head and linking one arm with Harry's so he could apparate side along, the hand on his other arm holding his trunk firmly as he felt his feet separate from the ground for the third time that day. He tried to keep himself calm, not wanting to risk splinching himself by stressing out too much but it was easier said than done and he landed on the grass outside of the burrow with a slight wince. The burrow...a younger him would have made a joke about weasels living in a burrow but it seemed out of place now, he couldn't even use it as a way to lighten the tension now. He had to be nice in order to show Potter he was grateful for being saved. He may have been filled with pride but he could recognize where a debt needed to be paid and there was always the threat of Azkaban hanging over his head.

"They're fine with me being here then?" His voice came out oddly strained. Harry nodded, giving him a smile that made Draco shiver slightly for some reason. Perhaps being in the cold of the manor had gotten him sick...

"They understand entirely and told me to make sure you felt welcome." He confirmed, voice soft as if trying to be gentle to the blonde man. Again Draco fought the urge to scoff, looking down to the floor briefly as they walked up to the rather mismatched house.

"You're staying here too?" He questioned, praying that he wasn't going to be left alone with the family immediately. As much as he may have been welcomed that would be nothing but awkward and, where Molly Weasley may accept him her children were likely to be much less accepting.

"Of course I am," Potter said simply as they reached the front door, stepping in without knocking as though it was his home. Draco swallowed his breath before the following suite. As bad as this was it would always be better than Azkaban.


	2. Chapter Two

The first thing Draco Malfoy noticed about the Burrow was the noise that seemed to fill the place. Unlike most pureblood households that were kept relatively quiet and were full to the brim with rather valuable artefacts, the Weasley household was buzzing with life, a weird mismatch of objects filling what appeared to be all of the available space. It was beyond Draco how all of them could fit into a house so small, his father had always complained about how small the manor had been in relation to the houses of his colleagues and it had certainly felt small with all of _his_ followers inside of it but this...this was almost suffocating. But it was warm where Draco's house had always been cold and, despite its size and oddities it was inviting, however apprehensive he was to be there he couldn't deny that. They were barely across the threshold when a plump woman with a shock of fiery red hair came hurrying over and, instead of hugging Harry like he'd anticipated she would, wrapped her arms around Draco's slim waist. He was shocked, to say the least, but tried to keep his composure, patting her back awkwardly before shifting away and straightening up.

"Thank you for having me Mrs Weasley, I do apologise for not bringing a gift of some sorts but you'll understand that this whole arrangement has been rather rushed." The woman laughed at Draco's formal tone, shaking her head slightly and diverting her gaze to Harry this time.

"It has been rather fast I have to say but I'm used to this one causing trouble by now. No need to speak to me or my husband like we're some old purebloods either, you're allowed to relax here, in case you can't tell we don't keep up with tradition. Now you and Harry will be rooming up in the attic above Ron's room so I'll let him make sure you settle in, you can meet everyone at dinner as they're all out now." She spoke in such a rush it was hard for him to keep up with everything but for some reason he couldn't stop a smile spreading over his face, it was odd how he'd had so many expectations of the Weasley mother, so many prejudices as well and she'd managed to simultaneously confirm them all whilst dismissing them all too. "I'll have you looking well again in no time, bit peaky, you definitely need a good meal. Oh, and dear? It's Molly." Draco just nodded his head courteously, not sure what else to say.

"Thank you...Molly." He tested the name on his tongue, not used to calling adults by their first names but going with it. Although he certainly wasn't happy being there he could imagine that it hadn't exactly been pleasant news for her either. He wondered briefly how Harry could do it, how Harry could put his wellbeing over that of the family that had practically raised him. He must have realised that Draco would do nothing but remind the family of the war and their loss, had Draco been in his position he wouldn't have been so merciful but then Potter was practically a saint. His brain probably worked in ways a Slytherin couldn't even hope to understand.

"C'mon," Potter mumbled, shaking his arm and snapping Draco out of his daydream. "I'll help you get your trunk up the stairs yeah? My things are already here." Draco simply nodded, taking one end of his trunk as Harry took the other, neither of them seeing the need for magic surprisingly to do such a menial task. Draco really wasn't used to having his wand back after the months he'd spent in questioning so it wasn't that odd for him to go about things manually but he figured Potter would have had enough of hard work to last him a lifetime what with defeating the dark lord.

"So you live here then?" He spoke, attempting to make conversation because...well, he was in this for the (very) long haul. He may not want to be Potter's best friend but he could at least be civil. Especially if they were rooming together. Potter huffed, silently telling Draco that he was in fact too busy holding up the weight of the trunk to answer the question, only letting go of the breath he was holding once they'd scaled the final flight of stairs. It was a little out of character for Potter to be so strained, he had always been somewhat athletic what with quidditch but Draco presumed that like most people, in the aftermath of the war he hadn't had much time to fit in a game.

"Well yeah, my house carries a lot of memories...and one really angry house elf so it's easier just to stay here until I can be bothered to either sort it out or look about for somewhere else." The darker haired man panted, resting just a second before opening the door to the attic room and dragging the trunk across the floorboards in front of the bed furthest from the window. Draco was rather pleased with that, he hated sleeping if it was too light and rather valued his pale look. On the bed there was a little set of towels, a pair of magical ear plugs (suggesting Potter snored) and a letter with the Hogwarts crest stamped on the front, presumably an explanation of how them redoing 7th year would work with a book list. Potter noticed him looking at the letter and smiled, sitting down on his bed with a slight flop.

"We go back in a week." He began, answering Draco's unasked question. "All our year, 8th years as we're being called, are living in one of the towers, there's not really any house system for us as we're obviously not supposed to be there. Lessons are aimed at preparing us for NEWTS and fill in any gaps basically and we'll sit our exams when we normally would as 7th years." He explained, casually and Draco just nodded.

"Ok." He replied, feeling he at least owed Harry a response but no longer keen to keep conversation by elaborating. Draco moved, about to begin the process of unpacking his things into the little chest of drawers that was pulled up by his bedside, covering a rusty old radiator rather poorly but then he changed his mind, sitting down on his bed also. "Look I need to know why you did all this? Like what does helping me even do for you?" He couldn't bite his tongue any longer, there had to be some sort of motive, some reason that would explain why Potter was going so far as to sacrifice his own privacy for the freedom of someone he'd never liked.

"What do you mean?" The man's brow furrowed and Draco rolled his eyes, leaning back on the bed.

"You went through the effort of speaking to the Wizengamot, who we all know can drone on forever and showing them memories you knew would have them release me. You also sacrificed your privacy so they could do so 'safely', without ministry backlash or outcry from the public. Why? That's not something people do for ex death-eaters." He drawled, looking over at the other man as if he was a perfect idiot. Perhaps he was, he'd always had suspicions whilst they were in school that Potter was a part troll or something.

"I just didn't think it was right and I think that's the only explanation I need to give, can we drop it now?" The defensive edge to Potters tone only made Draco more curious.

"No Potter, we can't drop it because we don't like each other, remember? Never have. Actually, we were pretty much enemies throughout Hogwarts, or would have been considered such had there not been bigger fish to fry and now you've happily agreed for us to be roommates. You can't be that much of a saint."

"Malfoy I'm telling you to just drop it." The man actually sounded cross now and, although Draco truly was trying to be nice he really couldn't resist prodding Potter when he left his guard so down.

"No. I want to know why you did it. Why the hell did you go out of your way to help me when it would have been easier for you to just leave it? No one asked you to get involved." Something in the other man seemed to snap as he stood up off his bed and held his wand out, pointing it right in Draco's face causing the blonde to freeze. The memory of his near death flashed before his eyes as he was unwillingly reminded of the worst duel he'd ever been involved in. The scars still covered his body. Snape had saved his life but he hadn't been able to remove the wounds.

"That's why." Potter spoke simply, sitting down once more as though his point had been proven by Draco's flinch. 

A laugh escaped Draco's lips, the man had put himself through all of this simply because he felt guilty? 

"Saving me from Azkaban was a ploy to clear your guilty conscience?" Draco all but sneered. "I've raised my wand many a time to you Potter and truthfully I don't feel that bad about it. Maybe you are the saint the Prophet seems to think you are after all, who'd have thought?."

"You know fine well that what happened in that bathroom was different, I nearly killed you and so I owe you by default." He spoke with a level of sincerity, green eyes wide as they looked across the room at Draco. There was regret in them for sure and for a moment Draco felt like just accepting what was being said but then the man spoke again." Plus technically your wand helped me to kill Voldemort so in an indirect way you deserve some sort of thanks." At that Draco all but snorted.

"Honestly, I quite like the scars you left" He shrugged. "And please, don't even try and be humble about the whole defeating the darkest wizard of all time shit. You're a fucking Gryffindor have some p-"

"Scars?" Potter interrupted his little rant, voice dripping with a strange amount of urgency causing Draco to frown. Had the-boy-who-lived really thought he could cast a spell like that and not leave any marks behind? The evidence backing his part-troll theory really had grown in strength over the past ten minutes or so.

"Loads actually. Wanna see them?" He grinned wickedly, moving his hand to unbutton his shirt. There was a flicker of something Draco didn't quite recognise across Harry's face before the man turned rather pale and moved his hand to cover his eyes.

"No, please don't." He appeared frantic, sounding a mix of ashamed and repulsed. Once again Draco was chuckling, leaving the buttons of his shirt alone and lying back fully on his bed.

"Scared, Potter?" The tone of his voice was light once again, no longer really caring to learn the true reason that Harry had helped him. For now, he was content to just be free and to be able to wind the other up about his decision. To tease him was a lot easier than to just accept it and, at least now he knew one of the man's main weaknesses. Perhaps anytime Potter was really breathing down his neck Draco would be able to scare him off by simply threatening to lift his shirt up. He was about to speak again, to change the subject now that he clearly held the upper ground but before he could there was a shout around the house, Molly Weasley's voice magnified calling them all down for supper. Now it was his turn to be afraid. The Weasley's likely wouldn't make his first meal of freedom relaxing but the was quite sure it would be memorable.

"Come on, we don't want to get down late or there'll be nothing left." Potter spoke, overly chipper as, in this situation, he was the one with the upper hand. It was a struggle not to hex him, just to remove the smug look on his face as Draco reluctantly got up off the bed and followed him down the stairs. He hadn't felt such dread in a very long time. Being on the receiving end of the Weasley girls bat-bogey hex once had pretty much scarred him for life. Now he was in their home. If it was him in their position he certainly wouldn't show any mercy.

"Ah there you are boys, hurry up, Draco you sit beside Harry there." The pair were hurried into their chairs. The pots and pans floating about the kitchen, all controlled by Mrs Weasley, immediately began to serve them, stopping only when each plate was full. It was strange, to sit and eat at a table with others. Family dinners were synonymous with an event of some description and not something he typically looked forward to. This wasn't really that different in some respects, he could certainly feel the eyes of the girl Weasley, Ronald and Hermione boring into him with an intensity that rivalled his fathers frequent disapproving stairs. At least the school term was only a week away. He only had to endure dinners like this for 6 more nights. The fact that the surviving twin and the older siblings had moved out did calm him slightly but he could tell the remaining residents had questions, and objections to his presence. Harry seemed to sense it as well.

"I explained this to you earlier. As much of a monumental prick he may be Malfoy does not deserve to be in Azkaban, he deserves a second chance but in order for him to get that chance I had to promise to keep an eye on him." He sighed heavily, giving Ginny an especially stern look as she appeared to be the one glaring the hardest. Were those two still a thing? Malfoy assumed so, they'd always been a thing, _the Gryffindor golden couple,_ he couldn't think of anything more boring.

"You were the one convinced he was a Death Eater at 16." Ron grumbled. Malfoy focused on his plate, staring intensely into his mound of mash potato and forcing himself to bite back an insult. Those words truly did send a shiver down his spine these days.

"Yeah I know but..." Potter trailed off as if searching for words. There was a pregnant pause before Draco let out an exasperated sigh, looking Ron in the eyes. If you want something doing well it was clearly better to do it yourself than to rely on Potter. 

"But I was 16 and He wanted revenge on my family for my father's failure to the acquire the prophecy, it wasn't really my place to refuse what he had planned for me." Draco had hoped that would be enough to silence Potter's best friend but apparently not. Rons immediately snapped back, waving his fork in the air, half-eaten sausage dangling off the end, as he spoke with nothing but venom in his voice.

"Yeah but before that, you were always a vile git, the stuff you used to call Hermione, the way you treated every member of my family, your attitude towards Harry, your disdain for Neville and Luna and everyone you felt was below you." It was rather hard to take the red-haired man seriously when he was talking with his mouth full of sausage but his words had their intended impact. Draco couldn't hide his reaction, stiffening notably at the mention of Luna. 

"Me and Luna, not that it's any of your business happen to be on very good terms now. It was me who kept her alive during her imprisonment at the manor and she has expressed forgiveness for my childishness. I'd thank you for not bringing her up again." He spoke calmly but firmly, remembering how his mother had coached him to 'debate' with other purebloods. "As for the comments I made about Hermione, nasty as they were and apologetic as I am, I think we can all agree that to some degree they were due to the climate of the time and the fact I was raised by a less than tolerant Death Eater. I personally have no ill will for any muggle-born, half-blood or anything else now that I can see things clearly. In regards to your family, again all I can do is apologise and hope that is good enough for you" His smile was sickly sweet but his words at least stunned Ron into silence. It wasn't as though he was being insincere but his formal tone was deliberate, an attempt to make the assertion that he was, in fact, better than the man at least on the ground of manners. Silence threatened to fall over the table after that, an awkward edge filling the air between them. With Draco no longer being...well, the Draco they knew it seemed hard for them to critique, something that again was very deliberate. He was going to manipulate the hell out of this situation to make it advantageous in whatever way it good be. The silence didn't have time to take it's rooted though as the Weasley girl was soon interrupting it.

"You kept Luna alive. Why?" She spoke, voice an odd mix of harsh and soft, clearly curious but suspicious also. Draco found himself looking down at his plate again, pushing the food he'd hardly touched his plate, suddenly losing his appetite as memories of the Manor seemed to dance in front of his eyes.

"Because she was too good to be killed by them." Was his final answer, coming after a couple of minutes. "And because I could. If I hadn't, despite having the chance, her blood would be on my hands. As Dumbledore once told me, I am no killer." He looked at Harry as he spoke those last words, knowing fine well that the dark haired man would understand. Harry just nodded and Ginny did too, presumably satisfied with his answer now that her boyfriend had shown his approval.

"Yet you did fuck all when it was Hermione being tortured," Ron muttered and god Draco wanted to punch him, not even hex him, he wanted to feel the guy's jaw break or something far more aggressive than a simple hex.

"I risked my life sneaking down to the cellar of my own house to cast a couple of healing spells at night. If I had even so much have spoken a word whilst they did what they did to Hermione not only would they have done worse to her to spite me I would have either suffered equally alongside her, been killed on the spot or been eaten by that giant fucking snake." He all but spat, glaring at the man for being so fucking stupid. "I tried to tell them that it wasn't you lot, to act as though I didn't recognise you, but it would have done none of us any good if I'd played the hero." And with that, he was standing, vanishing the food left on his plate and placing it by the sink. He thanked Molly as he moved to the stairs, passing through the living room where she'd moved to once all the kids were sat down before he made his way back up to the attic. That hadn't been as bad as he was expecting, he had been imagining a lot more shouting but he hadn't imagined feeling so angry, so sick of being made to feel guilty for what he had or hadn't done. There was no reason for guilt, he'd done what he'd been capable of and yet still it was eating away at him, coiling up through the pit of his stomach.

Why the fuck had Potter done this?

Ron made it very clear that he was holding onto his grudge with an iron grip. Hermione's silence suggested that the witch was either siding with her boyfriend or entirely indifferent. Somehow the idea of her potential indifference felt worse to him as, out of all of them, she had the most right to be angry. ButHermione never seemed to do what was expected of her and, her frightful intelligence probably meant she was simply harbouring another opinion, one Draco didn't deserve to hear just yet. Ginny was fierce, just as resentful as her older brother but slightly more empathetic. She had clearly valued the fact he'd saved Luna but then she was Potter's girlfriend. She was hardly going to oppose something he'd arranged vehemently, at least not in front of Potter. It was odd now Draco thought of it that Potter wasn't rooming with Ginny but maybe he wasn't even allowed to leave Draco alone to sleep. And Potter...Potter was...

"Malfoy?" An insufferable, inescapable prick?

"What?" He drawled, wondering if anyone ever taught the-boy-who-lived that when someone storms away they normally don't want to be followed.

"Are you...Ron, he didn't-well, ok he did mean it but like, are you alright?" God, had anyone even taught him how to speak? The babbling was ridiculous and Draco found himself groaning, flopping back on his little camp bed.

"Your girlfriend's brother has done nothing to hurt my feelings, fear not." He drawled, covering his face with his hands. "I just didn't want to hex Molly's son after she'd just made such a nice dinner, or punch him for that matter either."

"Girlfriend?" Potter sounded way more puzzled than he should do and Draco fought the urge to sit up and write a letter to the prophet right that moment about Potter's troll-like tendencies.

"The Weasley girl." He spoke dryly. "Surely even with your dedicated fanbase of witches, you must at least remember the one you're going out with?" Potter laughed. A full laugh that filled the room and made Draco sit up, slightly alarmed as Harry bent over and clutched his ribs, full on belly laughing as though he'd never heard anything funnier. Draco didn't even know what he'd said.

"Malfoy you idiot, we've not been together for about sixth months, the prophet covered it very extensively if I do remember correctly." And now he was glad he hadn't written a letter to them.

"I didn't get the chance to read the paper very much in jail thank you very much and even if I had I wouldn't have been reading about you."

"God did you seriously not hear about it?" The grin on the darker haired man's face was overbearing, so annoyingly smug Draco's urge to punch someone was coming back quite quickly.

"Potter, you're not that big of a deal anymore now the dark lords gone, it was hardly national news, can't have been if I missed it anyway." Another laugh.

"That's the thing, it was national news." Oh?

"Jesus, does this country have nothing better to write about? What about the rising cost of dragon scales or the inevitable upcoming collapse of the potions market or, I dont fucking know, the problems with protecting mere-folk burial sites from muggles? Why does your break up take priority over _actual_ news?" He rambled, embarrassed to have been exposed as so oblivious to the world around him. Perhaps the guards in the Ministry were advised to keep all news regarding Potter away from those about to be trialled as death eaters.

"I mean, I came out as gay as well so it was a bit of a scandal apparently."

Oh.


	3. Chapter Three

Draco had a hard time falling asleep. Normally his issue was with staying asleep, nightmares all too often interrupted what should be peaceful dreams, but that night he couldn't even keep his eyes closed. He didn't know why. The ear-buds were working, drowning out what he could tell was some quite loud snoring based on the way Harry's chest was rising and falling and, it wasn't as though the bed wasn't nice either, despite it looking like a cheap camper. And yet here he was, lying flat on his back, still awake with his mind working in overdrive. What Potter had told him a couple of hours earlier was playing over in his head and, although he refused to believe that it was what was keeping him awake it certainly wasn't helping him fall asleep either. Potter was gay. It wasn't that big of a deal and yet it was. It was a fucking huge deal for a reason he couldn't quite put his finger on. He exhaled heavily, rolling onto his side to face the chest of drawers and closing his eyes in a vain attempt to allow himself to drift off.

"Fuck this." He mumbled after five or so minutes, able to tell already that he was going to need a serious draught of pepper up potion in the morning, especially as he planned to take a trip to Diagon Alley in order to pick up the supplies that he would need for school. There was no point in him lying in bed if he wasn't going to sleep and so he pulled himself up, pulling a pair of trousers on and sitting upright. He was still for a moment, looking over to Harry for a second. Just as the man had appeared a different person as he got out of breath going up the stairs he was someone entirely different in his sleep, peaceful looking and still whereas when awake he never seemed at peace. Not that Draco really cared, he had to remind himself of that, he didn't care to see all these different sides to Potter one bit. He stood up slowly, walking out of the attic room and making his way out of the burrow. When then dark lord had been at the Manor he'd spent a lot of time in the garden, out of the way of everyone. It wouldn't be the same as it was at 'home' but perhaps sitting in the garden of the burrow would help calm him somewhat.

That's if the bloody garden gnomes decided to leave him alone.

It appeared that most of the gnomes, known for their love of practical jokes, had long sice fallen asleep and so Draco sat down on the grass content that he wouldn't be disturbed, casting a warming spell around himself and placing his head in his hands. Only now did he start to appreciate how close he'd come to Azkaban, how close he'd come to continuing his tradition of following his father's footsteps, a habit he'd been trying to break since before the war began. He really did owe Potter his life, despite how close the man had come to ending it on one occasion this was the second time he'd saved it (the first being when _fiendfyre_ was cast in the forbidden room) and so a debt was definitely due. Not that Potter would agree that it even existed, he wasn't educated enough into the way of purebloods enough to know that the act of saving someones live was held on a very high pedestal. But he couldn't exactly tell Potter that. The man would take it as nothing but an insult. Yet another sigh left his lips as he laid back on the grass and stared up at the sky, lazily tracing the constellations with his wand and trying to focus on keeping his thoughts away from the topics that normally filled his nightmares.

"Malfoy?" A voice heavy with sleep interrupted the silence, causing him to jump to sit up. He span around, wand instantly moving away from where it pointed to the sky, a reflex reaction.

"Weasley?" His attempt to conceal his surprise was rather half-hearted, obviously, he was shocked to see the girl Weasley, Ginny standing just behind him on the grass. He hadn't even heard her coming out of the house. A laugh escaped the girl's mouth as she moved closer, sitting cross-legged on the ground beside him.

"You can put your wand down for a start and, if you're living with us, I think you ought to get used to using my first name given how many Weasley's there are." She spoke with a soft voice not that Draco noticed, too confused as to why she'd suddenly decided to join him. "You don't need to look so shocked either, none of us really sleep very much anymore and I like the garden when the gnomes are behaving. What's keeping you awake?" She asked, looking over at him and Draco couldn't help to raise his eyebrow slowly.

"Just thinking about Azkaban" He replied, echoing her own soft tone and running a hand through his hair as he turned to face her more comfortably. He wasn't sure why he'd answered so honestly. He'd have been entirely open with her but part of the reason he was awake did involve Harry's little confession and he didn't need Ginny Weasley knowing that Potter being gay had affected him in any way. "You?" She was quiet for a second, pulling up a blade of grass between her fingers before looking over at him and deciding to answer.

"I was thinking about the same thing really." She laughed slightly, looking down at the blade of grass between her fingers. "Well, not really the same thing but like...I heard how angry dad was in particular when Harry rocked up with this news and then half an hour later they were nothing but sympathetic and welcomed you entirely. What did you do? Why was Harry so set on getting your name cleared?" She still had feelings for The-Boy-Who-Lived, that much was made blatantly obvious by her curiosity. There was no other reason for her to be taking so much interest in Draco's situation but, where normally he would have told her to mind her own business again he found himself answering her questions. Perhaps it was how tired he was.

"He showed them a collection of memories, numerous events that occured while the dark lord lived in the manor that weren't particularily pleasant" He answered curtly, not wanting to speak too loud given how silent the garden was. He didn't feel the need to go into much more detail, just hinting the horror of that experiences would more than suffice. Ginny Weasley wasn't going to be the first person he spoke about that event with.

"Had he seen it before? He didn't watch it with them." That was news to Draco, he'd assumed Potter would have gotten curious, especially as he'd been rather illusive when giving the man the memory. His shock must have shown on his face. "So if he hadn't seen what happened to you why would he go out of his way to set you free, did he even speak to you before he did it?" Draco shook his head.

"I have no idea why he did it. He wouldn't even tell me." She just nodded, falling silent and laying back on the grass just as he had been before she interrupted his peace.

"I know he's supposed to be keeping an eye on you but he must have done this for a reason, he hasn't got involved in many of the other trials so it's quite unusual for him to pressure the Wizengamot like this. Just...keep an eye on him as well yeah? He must be going through some stuff." Draco just nodded, somewhat awkward as he got the impression she wasn't really talking to him anymore, just thinking out loud. He wasn't sure what the girl was trying to say, her thought process wasn't the most straight forward and everything was moving slowly anyway courtesy of his ongoing sleep deprivation.

"I suppose I will um...do you mind if I go back inside?" She shook her head, remaining silent and he stood fast, choosing to give her the space she clearly wanted. He hadn't come out there for company and she probably hadn't expected him to be there either. Sighing for the umpteenth time that night Draco trudged back inside, tip-toeing up the stairs despite the fact it would be far easier to simply silence himself, still not in the habit of being able to use his wand whenever he wanted. Thankfully he woke no one up, stepping into the attic room (glad to see Potter had stopped snoring) and slipping his jeans off so he could get back into bed.

"Where did you go?" A voice spoke, sharp and accusatory, breaking the silence of the room swiftly and causing Draco to stumble slightly, tripping over his jeans which were still wrapped around his ankles.

"Fucking hell Potter." He snapped, straightening himself out and bending to fold his clothing before slipping himself under the covers hastily. Despite his earlier cockiness, he didn't want the man to see his scars just yet, a moment would come where the time would be right and...fuck he needed to sleep. "Give a guy a heart attack why don't you?I went out into the garden if my whereabouts is so important to you."

"You freaked me out. I woke up and you weren't there and, in case you don't remember, the conditions of you not being in Azkaban are that I have to keep an eye on you." The man spoke, just as snappy which was somewhat surprising given he'd just woken up.

"Well I'm glad that you're taking such an annoying interest in my wellbeing but perhaps, prior to jumping to conclusions about where I may or may not have run off to you should have done yourself a favour and looked out the window." He drawled, shifting onto his side and wriggling a little bit to get comfortable. "Now stop acting like my damned mother and get into bed, I'm going to have to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow and as you're my personal nanny you'll have to be joining." He muttered, a little quieter as he heard a rustle of sheets indicating that Harry had also laid himself down. There was no reply, he hadn't really been expecting one either and so finally he closed his eyes, falling asleep without much trouble. As it always had while being at the manor going outside and letting the brisk air clear his head had worked it's magic. However falling asleep and staying asleep were two very different things.

Especially when rooming with Potter.

In fact, despite the fact his nightmares seemed willing to give him a break that night and had surrendered from their onslaught giving way to a relatively peaceful dream about quidditch Draco's sleep was still disturbed far earlier than he would have liked. About three hours earlier than he would have liked to be specific. In his haste to climb back into bed when Harry decided to behave like an overprotective parent and chastise him for slipping out into the garden, Draco had forgotten to put his earbuds in and, although he'd fallen asleep before Potter started snoring it eventually stirred him awake. Or more like jolted him awake. He could see why Potter had given him the earbuds in the first place now, he was loud. Way too loud for this early in the morning. He sat up slowly, checking the time on the alarm clock beside his bed, letting out a groan of disdain as he actually processed the time. There was no way he'd fall asleep again, even with the earbuds as his head was already whirring and so he decided to do what any mature, sleep-deprived adult would do in this situation. He picked up the nearest cushion and threw it at the other man's head, nodding contently when it made impact.

"What the?" Harry jumped up as though a brick had hit him instead of a pillow, hair sticking out at every possible angle and eyes puffy with sleep. There was something oddly...cute about the man's appearance and god, Draco was more tired than he'd originally thought. The confused look on Harry's face soon gave way to a look of disdain as he realised the pillow hadn't just magically hit him but had been thrown instead. "You're a bigger prick than I remember you know?" He spoke through a groan, sitting up slowly.

"Whatever." Draco sneered, reaching into the drawer where all his things were and pulling a t-shirt on quickly. "Get dressed Potter, we need to Diagon Alley." Another loud groan left the mans lips as he slumped back down and pulled the pillow that had been thrown at him over his face. A chuckle escaped Draco's lips as he picked up his wand and moved the pillow away with a nonverbal spell, standing up from his bed. "Molly is making breakfast." It was only a slight aversion of the truth, he knew that at some point Molly would be making breakfast, she just wasn't currently. Either way, it had Potter sitting up as though he'd been stunned, grumbling under his breath about Draco but still getting ready despite his complaints. Again Draco found himself admiring the man and, once more he had to fight the urge to actually hex himself as he gathered his wallet, shoving it into his back pocket.

"Why do I have to come with you anyway?" Potters voice sounded, just as Draco made to open the door and descend from the attic. Was the man serious? God knows how he outsmarted Voldemort, it was becoming increasingly clear that the boy-who-lived was most certainly not the boy-who-studied. He bit back a laugh at his own poor excuse for a joke, shaking his head.

"In case you'd forgotten Potter you signed yourself up to be my personal childminder and, as I have to go back to Hogwarts and, as doing so requires owning a set list of books I do not already own _you_ have to come with me to purchase them. I would do so alone but alone is not an option." He replied, tone sharp as if challenging Potter to argue back. Surprisingly enough he didn't and instead he simply nodded, following Draco down the stairs of the burrow in silence. The silence was something that Draco had learnt to enjoy during his stay in the ministry holding cells, at least in silence he didn't have to listen to his mother's worried sobs or the accusatory jeering of the guards but now it felt slightly alien, uncomfortable. "Do you have an owl I can use here? Mine is with my mother in France and I need to tell her the news." He spoke, words cutting through the air as they padded into the kitchen. Molly Weasley, to his initial surprise (he remembered the comment Ginny had made about her families disturbed sleeping patterns relatively quickly), was already up and de-gnoming the garden with a rigour Draco had never really seen before. But then, the garden at the manor never did have this bad of a gnome problem, they were part of the problem with living so near muggles.

"Yeah, you can use my owl," Potter muttered, heading to the open kitchen window and whistling through his teeth. It was hard to hide his frown when a great big barn owl came flying towards Potter, so used to the white bird the man had owned all the way through school. "Hedwig died." The short answer to an unasked question but Draco didn't push it, truth be told he'd always been jealous of the others bird, it was a thing of beauty.

"I'm sorry." He spoke and he meant it, sitting down at the table and waving his wand to summon his parchment, his quill and his ink. It would have been so easy to run up and grab it himself, would have saved another awkward silence also but the feeling of having his own wand back in his hand was one he wasn't yet used to and he was quite happy to savour it. As he sat to write his letter, detailing the situation at hand in a manner that wouldn't give his mum a heart attack he tried not to pay too much attention to Potter and the small talk that developed between him and Molly once the woman saw them in the kitchen. She certainly did seem to enjoy feeding people, immediately setting about making them a 'good hearty breakfast'. A few years ago this would have made him laugh, he would have used it to taunt both Potter and the actual Weasley's relentlessly but now he said nothing. How could he laugh at a family who had lost so much but were still giving to him? He included that in his letter, not sure when he would feel like writing to his mother again and so keen to ensure there was enough in this one to keep her happy.

"Eggs sunny side up or over easy dear?" Molly's voice interrupted his writing, louder than it had been when she was talking to Harry to try and get his attention. He had to hide his slight jolt, licking his lips slowly as he thought a second.

"Sunny side up please Mrs. Weasley." He answered confidently, no one had ever really asked him his food preferences before but he wasn't complaining.

"What did I tell you to call me dear?" She chuckled softly, crossing her arms over the front and smiling. "Now, did you sleep well? I trust those earbuds worked, Ron always did complain about Harry's snoring but then Harry complained about his too. Wasn't until Hermione stayed in the room with them that we noticed how much worse Harry is and that's saying something." For a moment Draco felt a flutter of sympathy for Potter having to share a room with his best friend and best friends girlfriend but it soon disappeared, replaced with a wave of amusement.

"He is quite bad." He admitted, watching Potter who simply blushed and sat down at his place as Molly waved her wand to serve the pair of them. "But yes, the earplugs worked, thank you for providing me with them." His response was quite short as his food was served half way through, distracting him entirely from his train of thought, hungrier than he'd realised now there was a warm meal before him. He thanked her with a nod before tucking in, savouring the taste of the soft bread and warm eggs. They really hadn't fed him well at the ministry and Molly seemed to have picked up on it, watching him with slightly narrowed eyes as he ate.

"I have half a mind to complain to the minister himself about the way they've fed you." She muttered, clearly just thinking out loud. "You Malfoy's always were a slender bunch but you're slimmer than Harry when he first came here from those muggles and I didn't believe that possible. We'll get you fed up in no time dear." She added in reassurance, casting a very motherly smile in Draco's direction. He could see the confusion on Harry's face, imagining he was wondering what had been in that memory to make Molly so willing to forget the family differences so eagerly. She was very much taking Malfoy under her wing and that must have come unexpected to Potter, probably expecting the Weasleys to be civil at very best but Draco didn't really linger on deciphering Potter's facial expressions, realising with a slight jolt that, in the whirl of being freed from the ministry and coming to the burrow he hadn't once checked his reflection. And there certainly hadn't been a mirror in his cell. Subconsciously he placed a hand to his face, fingers moving over the planes of his cheekbones that did were definitely more hollowed than usual as he began to eat a little quicker, eager to get back upstairs and sort himself out. It was very un-Malfoy of him to appear in company as unkempt as he assumed he must look and, hate it as he may, it was still his position to uphold the family name in his fathers...absence.

"There's no need for you do that Molly." He spoke, still apprehensive about using an elder witches first name so casually. It really wasn't the way he had been raised. "And thank you very much for breakfast, if you don't mind I'm going to go and wash up now." He managed a smile in her direction, casting a quick cleaning charm over his plate before darting upstairs heading first to the attic room to grab his clothes and then to the bathroom on the floor below. And god was he relieved to know that no one else was up and no one else had seen him when he finally cast his eyes on his reflection. He'd actually looked better _during_ the war and that was saying something. Just as his hands had detected his cheekbones were startlingly pronounced, pale skin looking sunken in as it clung to their outline. Large bags made it look like he was sporting two black eyes, his blonde hair was sticking out in all directions, thick with grease that now he'd noticed made his stomach curl. The ministry hadn't allowed him the privilege of a wash very often.

"Fuck." He muttered to himself, perching himself on the edge of the bath and turning the taps on. It was embarrassing to think he'd appeared before everyone, especially Potter, in such a state. They'd think him an absolute scruff. He tried not to panic too much, muttering a spell to speed up the running of the water, wanting to get clean as quickly as possible now he'd noticed how gross he truly was. In fact, once in the bath, he didn't even take the time to enjoy the warmth of the water or begin his usual pamper routine, washing his hair and his skin before jumping out, suitably embarrassed by how murky grey the water had turned in the short time he'd been in the water. "Well, Potter and his cronies always were repulsed by you." He spoke to himself, styling his hair in the slightly fogged up mirror, allowing himself to dry naturally before pulling on his clean clothes. To say he felt better wearing clothing that wasn't threadbare and no longer being physically dirty was an understatement but that didn't mean he felt himself just yet. Molly was right, he really did need feeding up being this thin was not a good look. Scowling slightly and trying hard to not curse the ministry for reducing him to this, knowing that to some extent he had deserved his temporary incarceration no matter what lies Potter had spun, he charmed his hair into place, adjusting well to using his wand again. It was a relief to know that the ministry hadn't tampered with it and it still answered his call.

"Draco?" Speaking of answering to calls, Potter's voice suddenly rang out clear from outside the bathroom, causing him to jump at least a foot. "If we're going to go to Diagon Alley anytime today you need to stop staring at yourself in the mirror and get sorted." The scowl Draco was wearing intensified momentarily, glaring at the door for a split second before opening it and exiting the bathroom, being sure to bump into the man as he ran up to the attic once more. It took him less than a minute to gather his wallet, slip on some shoes and spray his cologne over himself, turning to face Harry who had climbed the stairs behind him with a raised eyebrow.

"Satisfied?" He drawled, cocking his hip a little. For a second a funny expression appeared on Potter's face, an expression Draco couldn't quite read as it cleared so quickly, giving way to a look of utter exasperation.

"Whatever you do don't wander off." He warned, as though Draco was simply a child, closing the distance between them and grabbing the blonde man's arm before apparating them away to Diagon Alley. Surely they could manage to shop for school supplies without killing each other? 


	4. Chapter Four

Shopping with Harry Potter was not as easy as Draco had expected. A trip that had only been intended to be quick as he was only needing a few books and some potions equipment was starting to eat into their day quite considerably. He wasn't actually sure what was worse, the fact that Harry was living up to his name and just pottering along, looking at whatever took his fancy but always refusing to buy something or the fact that it was taking them even longer to get in and out of places due to the large crowd of Potter fans following them about. Well, following Harry about. They'd made it very clear that they had no interest in Draco and were taking great pleasure in making the trip as miserable as possible for him, shoving him out the way and shouting abuse on occasion. Even Harry had given up telling them to stop.

"Right, Potter, that's it." Draco finally snapped as yet another person 'bumped' into him, not even trying to disguise their deliberate effort to knock him over, successfully sending him falling back onto the cobblestones. Reluctantly he accepted the hand the other man had extended to him almost the second he hit the floor, using it as leverage to stand before dropping it and brushing the dust off his smart trousers, standing tall as was the Malfoy way. "Can you kindly tell your fans to fuck off or put that damn invisibility cloak on and go and hide somewhere so I can get my things without them trailing us. We'll be here till it's dark trying to get everything on my list with this lot following us around and I am _not_ being pushed to the ground again." His tone was snappy, glaring at Potter and neglecting to thank him for the hand up. Frankly, he'd have been more grateful had that incident not happened in the first place and if Harry had actually done something about the gaggle of stalkers that had pushed him when they first started acting hostile.

"You're so grumpy, I really don't see what the rush is," Harry muttered, seemingly content to spend the whole day just ambling about without any purpose. Honestly, Draco was in awe of the fact that Harry actually managed to get anything done now his life wasn't in imminent danger. There was certainly no urgency to the way he seemed to just stand and take in all of his surroundings, acting as though this was his first visit to Diagon Alley rather than his hundredth. It was like he was a first year again.

"You might not but I didn't intend to spend all my day with Harry Potter and I certainly didn't intend to spend my day dealing with Harry Potter's adoring fan base. I'm not back at Hogwarts just yet." He snapped. If Harry was going to call him grumpy, using the word as though he was scorning a poorly behaved pet instead of talking to a respectable wizard, Draco was going to give him grumpy. Call it childish but it was Harry's fault they even had to be anywhere near each other and he was more than capable of dealing with the consequences of his actions. Instead of snapping back, Potter just looked bemused, blinking slowly and looking at Draco in a manner that suggested he was trying very hard not to smile...or laugh.

"You get so angry over the smallest things, I'm sure that was just an accident" He noted, tone making it clear that he was, in fact holding back laughter. "And, even if it wasn't just an accident..." He added before Draco could even open his mouth, clearly noticing the way the blonde man seemed to prickle at his defense of his assailants. "It was pretty fucking funny anyway." Draco's eyes narrowed, a huff leaving his lips as he turned on his heel to stomp away from the dark haired man. He was stopped in his tracks, however, as Harry caught his arm before he was even two steps away. "Oh calm down, legally you're not actually allowed to leave my side in public so storming off dramatically will only serve land you in Azkaban, remember? Now cmon, I'll walk quicker if it makes you semi-less of a prick."His voice was all sing-songy and stupid and it did not make Draco's heart flutter. Definitely not.

"Not appreciated Potter." He spoke haughtily, moving back to Harry's side anyway. "Need I remind you that you are not actually my friend, you ought not to treat me like one." He pulled his arm away from Harry's as though he'd been burnt, admittedly rather surprised that Potter had even held onto it for so long, quickly straightening himself up once more. He stood tall with a straight back, nose in the air and arms straight by his side as his father had taught him when he was much much younger. He shivered slightly, reminded of his father drawling voice stating that 'to be a Malfoy name you ought to walk like a Malfoy' as he paraded around the drawing room and the sharp sensation of his father's wand to the back of his legs that he'd felt every time his head had dropped slightly. The message had certainly been beaten into him by the time he carried himself like this naturally. Potter chuckled slightly from beside him, amused by the way the blonde puffed his chest like some sort of proud bird but biting his tongue to hold back any comments, something Malfoy both noticed and appreciated. Potter was right, he did have a short temper and, with the way today was going, he really didn't trust himself to not hex the chosen one if he had chosen to consider his teasing.

"What do you need now?" Potter's voice lacked any of its previous mischief as he watched Draco pull the Hogwarts list from his pocket. So far they'd only managed to get Draco fitted for robes, a process that had been rather time-consuming due to his refusing to buy the standard ones and his insistence on proper tailoring. His more fitted, more flattering version would be owned to the Burrow the next day. All that was left now really, due to him still having most of his equipment, was the rather extensive list of NEWT textbooks and some rather complicated looking potions ingredients. Draco was not as much of an avid reader as he had been but he still had a passion for potions and so he decided to pull Harry in the direction of the apothecary first. Plus it meant he'd have to spend less time carrying all of the books if he saved them until last.

"Ought you to be going in there?" A stern, male voice reprimanded just as Draco reached to open the door for the shop, already itching to buy himself some new crystal vials and a new set of ingredients. There was nothing like making a potion with fresh supplies. "You're one of their kind, a follower of _him_. Who knows what dark magic you could be planning out." The voice seemed to grow more urgent the further it progressed in its sentence and gods today was really beginning to take its toll.

"I'm standing here with Harry Fucking Potter, do you really think I'm going to walk in and buy the ingredients for a bloody resurrection potion?" He snapped, turning to see where the voice had come from. He'd expected to come face to face with some ministry official but instead, he was met with a face that was truly unmistakeable and still just as gorgeous as it had been prior to the war. Everyone in Slytherin house, gay or straight, had been in agreement that Blaise Zabini was the most attractive wizard in their year yet and Draco himself had definitely been envious or how much attention Blaise's features had earnt him. "Blaise!" He exclaimed when he finally remembered how to speak, pulling his old friend into a tight hug. Screw his efforts to look composed, he hadn't seen anyone he used to be close to since the war, it was a relief to find out some were still alive. "Aren't you supposed to be on trial still? What happened to that?" He asked despite the way Potter clucked his tongue beside him, clearly not happy with the hold up after Draco had insisted he move quicker.

"I was but they cleared me of everything after I showed them my memories, bit of an invasive process but apparently I was one of the only people who consented to it and so they deemed me innocent." Blaise simply smirked as he pulled back from Draco's hug, voice still oozing its effortless confidence, hands shoved into his pockets as he stood slightly slouched, somehow managing to look like a fashion model from some high-end magazine. If there was one thing Draco had always admired about Blaise it would have to be how easy he made everything look, speaking of aurors traipsing through every memory he owned as though it had been a walk in the park instead of something vastly humiliating and being so fucking attractive when he clearly hadn't even bothered with his appearance. It was an effort to stop staring and it was making Draco feel rather confused. "So...how come you're 'standing here with Harry Fucking Potter'?" Blaise mimicked Draco's tone, causing the blonde to snap out of his trance.

"Well the Ministry have dropped charges against me and are insisting me back to Hogwarts, I'm getting all the stuff on the school list today actually but I'm with him because in order to feel...ok about me being free the Ministry insisted that I live with him and prohibited me going anywhere without him." Zabini looked incredulous, raising his eyebrow as he looked at Draco over to Harry. He was silent for a second before laughing softly, pulling Draco into another tight hug.

"Well, I'll be seeing you both at Hogwarts then," Zabini spoke with a grin as he his hands lingered over the blonde's slim waist, causing Draco's heart to skip a beat. The fucker could definitely tell that his actions were having some sort of effect. "But for now I'll have to love you and leave you-I to have my own things to collect." His voice was a low whisper, lingering over Draco like honey and yet Blaise himself certainly didn't linger, apparating away just as he finished his sentence, not allowing Draco to even mutter a goodbye himself. He blinked, lip falling between his teeth as he tried to get a hold of his heart beat. How had such a simple hug had such an affect on him? Especially a hug from a male... It was only because he hadn't seen Zabini for such a long time, he scolded himself, that was the only logical explanation he certainly wasn't...he certainly wasn't like Potter.

"You going to walk or are you just going to stand there all dumbstruck pining for your boyfriend?" Ah, Potter. Draco had almost forgotten that he was standing right beside the chosen one in the whirlwind that had been Blaise.

"My boyfriend?" He laughed, schooling his face into a hard sort of smirk, shaking his head slow. "Please Potter, unlike yourself I happen to be perfectly straight." Was his simple retort, words a lot more believable when spoken out loud than they did when spoken inside of his head. Not allowing Potter any time to respond he turned on his heel and walked into the apothecary, unable to hide the smile that took over his face as he did so. This had been his favorite shop since well before he was old enough to go to Hogwarts and now he finally had express permission from Hogwarts to buy some of the more dangerous ingredients, something he hadn't been able to do beforehand even with his father looming over the store keeper. He approached the assistant cheerfully, knowing that despite his association with the dark lord the staff of this shop wouldn't treat him any differently, they'd seen him grow up and so knew his love for potions had never strayed into the dark arts as much as he himself may have dabbled. Despite his confidence that he wouldn't be treated differently he couldn't help but feel relief when the short witch took his list without asking any questions and began to gather the supplies he required, standing to the side and watching as she sent things flying into vials or metal tins that labeled themselves.

"I don't think I've ever been inside of this apothecary." Potter's voice interrupted his train of thought and Malfoy couldn't help but roll his eyes, something that was fast becoming a habit of his.

"Of course you haven't." He muttered, turning to look at the darker haired man. "You've never appreciated potions, even when you had that bloody book and so what reason would you have for a high-quality apothecary-like this one?" He questioned, raising his eyebrow carefully. It was funny how the man seemed to clam up whenever the book was mentioned as though he'd been on the receiving end of the spell rather than the one who cast it. Call him petty but Draco wasn't ever going to let him live that one down, the Great Prophet would have had a field day if they'd found out about it but of course, as Harry Potter had been involved the details had been kept as quiet as possible and, as his father had been in Azkaban when it happened, there had been no one high up enough to alert the Prophet on his behalf.

"Well I mean I didn't even know there were other places to get this stuff, everyone always goes to the one beside Olivanders and so I did too." Potter's efforts to continue conversation were not going unnoticed, Draco knew fine well he was being snappy and difficult and yet still, despite that, Potter was trying to engage in conversation. It was quite peculiar, only a year ago his response to Draco's snapping or snarky comments would have been a simple sod off but now he seemed to actually be putting in some effort. Needless to say, it wasn't appreciated and so Draco chose to not respond, leaving an awkward sort of silence between them as the shop assistant neared the end of his list. He wandered over to the front desk to pay, it was a stroke of luck that his mother had walked free so early on in the death eater trials as it meant no one had been able to seize the Malfoy fortune. A fair few pure blood estates had been confiscated when their owners were put on trial with the majority of estates and fortunes being kept by the ministry even if the owners were cleared leaving many previously aristocratic families to fend for themselves. The Malfoy's had definitely got lucky. After handing over the galleons for all his ingredients and pocketing the pouch that contained them all (it clearly had an undetectable extension charm on it) Malfoy led the way out of the store, it was quite the relief to know that all he needed to do now was collect his books. "Hey, I'm starving, can we grab a bite to eat before we bother with the books?" His fantasy of finishing shopping within the hour fizzled away the moment Potter had finished his sentence, reminded rather reluctantly of the emptiness of his own stomach.

"Fine." His voice was a bored drawl as he placed a hand rather self-consciously over his stomach as if warning it not to growl out loud. "Where do you suggest?" A smirk took over Potter's face, a look of mischief following that Malfoy didn't quite understand. The man reached and grabbed his wrist before dragging him away from the door of the apothecary and up the alleyway. "You know...instead of acting like a prat and dragging me about you could just tell me where we're going." Despite his curiosity he couldn't help but grumble, feeling it necessary to let the other man know he disapproved but, apparently his grumbles fell on deaf ears as Potter didn't stop to tell him where they were going, turning onto a street that branched off the main alley that Draco had honestly never even noticed before. Then again, most of his trips to Diagon alley fast became trips to Knockturn alley and so his knowledge of the more popular wizard ring street wasn't exactly comprehensive.

"Surprises don't work if you give them away," Potter spoke matter of factly, voice oddly cheerful as they finally stopped outside a rather rickety looking shop. There was a coffee cup sign perched in the window and, through the slightly dusty glass Draco could make out a couple of tall, fully stacked bookshelves and a rather random assortment of chairs and tables that didn't match. There were maybe two or three people sat at these tables and two rather bored witches standing beside the counter.

"Where are we?" He asked, curious as they stepped through the door, a warm cinnamon aroma filling his nostrils and a low, instrumental sort of music easily settling into the background.

"My favorite cafe, no one comes here so I never get any hassle." Harry said simply, voice quiet so as not to disturb anyone in the small, warm room "They make a mix of muggle and wizard food so I kinda assumed your family would have taken you here, no offense. I can recommend the chip butty or the steak and ale pie." Draco followed Potter to one of the tables, sitting down carefully on the very old looking wooden chair before reaching for the menu. Given how hungry he was, he probably would have found anything appetizing by that point, he had to say that the menu looked good and, reading through it was the perfect way to block out Potter's mindless chatter.

"Wait, what's a chip butty?" He frowned, seeing the item on the menu lacking any description. He could feel Potter glare slightly.

"A chip butty is just chips inside of a bread bun with ketchup."The other explained, laughing in a way that made Malfoy flush. He supposed it was pretty self-explanatory.

"Well, I've ever even heard of them before ok...or had ketchup." He said defensively, crossing his arms slightly. "I suppose I'll try one, though." Potter nodded, waving over the rather bored looking waitress to order. Needless to say, she went from looking bored to incredibly excited the moment she saw who she was serving but even Draco had to admit she contained her giddiness rather well. In fact, she managed to revert back to her look of boredom the moment she laid eyes on him, clearing her throat.

"What can I get you?" Potter ordered on his behalf, getting two chip butties and something called coke for them each, smiling politely up at the girl as she scribbled down their order before turning on her heal.

"Do you order every ex-death eater you meet food in quaint muggle cafes or should I feel especially honored?" Draco drawled the moment she had walked away, smirking as he watched Potter's cheeks turn a rather bright shade of red. It was odd really, he'd almost been expecting to be hexed for making a remark like that but Potter had shrugged it off with nothing more than a slight blush. It was also incredibly boring. There was no fun in having to act civil.

"You should feel honored." There was a slight pause. "Can I see your list of books?" Not even bothering to ask why Potter was suddenly so interested Draco pulled the Hogwarts parchment out of his pocket and handed it to the other man, sitting back in his seat now he was confident that the rather rickety wood could actually support his weight. "Will you definitely get all of these in Flourish's?"

"Yeah, I mean the list says so but if not I'll just owl order them or something. I'm not expecting them to have flown off the shelves or anything, I think I've seen a copy of the text in the library of one of my father's friends and they're heavy just to look at." He explained, taking the list back as Harry passed it over, pocketing it carelessly. "Is most of our year going back?" Harry shook his head.

"Most of our year well, you know... and a lot of them are more responsible for their families cos of other deaths. Quite a bit of Gryffindor will be back, we weren't hit too badly and I think there may be a fair few Slytherins too. A lot of the Ravenclaw house managed to get jobs without NEWTs..." He trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. "To be honest I'm not sure exactly how many of us there will be, all I know is we're all living in one of the towers, McGonagall hasn't spoken all too much about it, every time I ask she gets distracted." Malfoy nodded slowly, looking down at his plate at the mention of the fate most of their year had suffered. Of course, he hadn't really fought so much, spending most of the battle hiding from both sides but he couldn't help the feeling of guilt that worked its way into his stomach, remembering the looks that had taken over the crowd when he'd been the first to break away from the Hogwarts side and join his parents. It hadn't been a display of his allegiance it was no more than an act of fear, a desire to join his family for, cold as they may be on the outside there had always been some semblance of love there, especially between his mother and him. Harry patted the table, breaking Draco's train of thought as he'd obviously intended to do. "Don't think about that, you've been cleared of all charges for a reason." He forced himself to nod, biting back a rather snappy retort about the reason revolving around Harry being the Ministry's golden boy. Today had been a long day and so his self-control surprised him.

"I suppose it won't be too bad going back, I need NEWTs if I'm to become a potions master and I always did enjoy a good Hogwarts feast." He took it upon himself to lighten the mood, casting his memory back to his first feast in the castle. He'd been ecstatic, having just been sorted into Slytherin and being in an entirely new place, as much as he pretended to know nothing could have prepared him for the sheer awesomeness of the castle. It had been hard pretending he hated the place at first but as the years grew darker and the troubles grew greater he'd stopped having to pretend. By his sixth year, he truly had hated the place, it reminded him constantly of the task he had to carry out and the consequences that would come with his failure. He frequently found himself longing to go back to that first night where his only worry had been Potter rejecting his offer of friendship on the train. 

"You want to be a potions master?" Potter asked eyebrow raised as the waitress came back over with their plates of food. Draco watched carefully as the other man took the lid of the sandwich off, sprinkled a great deal of salt over what Draco presumed were chips before squirting liberal amounts of the red thing called ketchup over the top when Potter was finished Draco copied.

"Yeah, I don't think they'd actually let me on Auror training and let's face it, I was better at potions than DADA." Harry nodded, taking a bit of his sandwich and grinning slightly with red stained lips as Draco copied him once more. For muggle food it was surprisingly good, a lot greasier than Draco was used to what with his mother being overly cautious about the family image and fearing the idea of them all becoming fat more than she feared the Dark Lord. "I suppose you'll be going for an Auror spot?" He asked once he'd finished his mouthful, sipping the dark brown drink Potter had also ordered them, eyes widening as he did so. Ok, coke was something he could definitely see being introduced into his diet. He took another enthusiastic sip as Harry swallowed and answered his question.

"Yeah, I mean, the Ministry want me to go for Minister of Magic or take over from McGonagall when she's had enough of Hogwarts but honestly I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do either job. Those positions are best left to people who actually know the gravity of them in my view and the only thing I've actually ever been good at, other than Quidditch, is fighting dark wizards." He was babbling slightly but Draco refrained from pointing that out, nodding curtly before falling silent and finishing up his lunch. As much as he resented Potter for his fame, for his lingering and to his general obliviousness to what it was like to be in Draco's situation he had warmed to him somewhat that day, or maybe that was just the food talking. Either way, as they finished up their food (and Draco brought himself several bottles of Coke, ignoring Harry's surprised chuckles) the atmosphere between them was lighter than it had been when they'd arrived in the alley.

"Let's go get my books then head back," Draco muttered as they left the cafe, tone neutral, not able to find it in him to be rude as they trudged off to the book shop.

Maybe shopping with Potter wasn't entirely horrific...


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next 5 chapters will be uploaded in a week!

Just as the atmosphere between him and Harry appeared to have shifted when they arrived back at the Burrow Draco found even the Weasley's were more...accepting of his presence amongst them. Ron was still a bit standoffish but Arthur Weasley had quizzed him rather politely over the workings of the muggle sandwich he'd eaten for lunch until Hermione promised, to the man's great and apparent delight, to purchase some chips the next time she was out in London. Even Mrs. Weasley had been intrigued until she'd found out they were simply potatoes fried and had retreated into the kitchen in a manner that had made Ginny laugh a little too much. Laughter appeared to be the red-heads way of coping with what Draco could only imagine was a catastrophic loss but of course, he would never voice that view and, as Ron, Hermione, Ginny, her father and Harry all laughed on in the disarray that was the front room Draco found himself following Mrs.Weasley into the even more disorganised kitchen.

"Can I give you a hand? It's the least I can do for you, putting up with me staying here and all." He spoke politely, still not used to not having to address adults formally when staying at their house. Although a little voice in the back of his head was nagging him, telling him that it was _just_ the Weasley family with everything that had happened over the past years he no longer had it in him to stand by his old prejudices. Politeness was far safer. The woman looked a little taken aback but it took only seconds for a warm smile to spread over his face.

"It's usually no trouble by myself dear, just a few waves of the wand. Do you know any kitchen spells?" She asked somewhat curiously and Malfoy couldn't blame her, in his younger years the Manor had hosted some formidable parties and had quite the collection of house elves to ensure everything was run smoothly, however, when the Dark Lord had risen the staff had perished within weeks and so Draco and his mother had learned to uphold the kitchen instead, keeping out of the way of fathers guests.

"I know a fair few, my mum was better at them than me but I can certainly chop any veg you need preparing and sort out the table." That appeared good enough for the rather short woman who handed him a basket of vegetables. 

"Well it's not really the same as vegetables but if you can prep them you can grate enough cheese to make macaroni cheese for seven people" She laughed softly, summoning a grater out the cabinet and doing the same for a block of cheese. "I always struggle managing cheese and pasta together for some reason, even after all these years." And this time Draco laughed, pulling out one of the wooden back chairs and waving his wand to do his job. He'd been about to do it manually until he remembered that he did, in fact, have a wand. He still wasn't quite used to it.

"Look I...I wanted to apologise for every bad word I've ever said against you and your family and I'll admit I've said quite a few over the years, I was very much brainwashed by my father and I see now that blood certainly has no relevance regarding the quality of a person. Your family didn't deserve the hell mine gave you for being decent people." He eventually plucked up the courage to speak, his words surprising even him. Maybe Blaise had put a jinx on him or something whilst they hugged, he'd been in a funny sort of daze ever since and this was very out of the ordinary. Although he was undeniably grateful for the Weasley's hospitality he'd thought it would take a lot more for him to swallow his pride and apologise to them like this. For a moment he was worried the woman was about to burst into a fit of tears.

"Oh dear look you've gone and got me all emotional," She sniffed, wiping her eyes on the oven mitts she had on "what's in the past in the past as far as I'm concerned, I know the others may take a while to warm up to that but I know none of them can claim innocence when it comes to name-calling or prejudices. It means a lot that you've apologised though love, I do like to see the best in people but I knew that your father was...well, a bit of a controlling figure for want of a better word." Her chatter was quite farming, very much reminding him of what he supposed a grandma _should_ be like. Of course, all his grandparents were completely and utterly mental but that didn't matter, a weight seemed to have lifted from his chest the moment he delivered his apology.

"Thank you for understanding Mrs...ah-Molly, I'm sorry it's taken so long." He spoke softly, looking absent-mindedly to the bowl of cheese that was now looking rather full, quickly stopping the spell in order to prevent any more being grated. "Is that enough?" The woman nodded, taking the bowl from the table and doing a serious of non-verbal spells.

"Yes dear, just perfect. Now, you set the table while I'll get this finished up and call all the others in" Draco simply noted his response, not feeling the need to fill the comfortable silence with idle chatter. He waved his wand, conjuring a neat tablecloth from nowhere and setting out a plate each and the cutlery. Household magic, simple as it may be, did carry a rather satisfying feeling to it. The manor had always been kept in order, even with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named occupying it and cleanliness was definitely something Malfoy valued as a result. In fact, after dinner, he was already making plans to bathe properly, give his hair a neat trim and fall back into his usual, careful grooming routine. It would save him being alone in a room with Potter for an extended amount of time and he could do with some alone time...He blushed slightly at the thought, suddenly incredibly aware of how long it had been since he experienced any relief either by himself or with another. The last woman he'd been with had been Pansy Parkinson the day before the battle, both of them so caught up in the fear of dying that they wanted to experience bliss at least once more. It hadn't really been bliss for him, though...Pansy Parkinson was not the most sexually appealing of all woman. The Ministry hadn't exactly given him the courtesy of time without a guard that he could use either so Draco supposed he must have just blocked it out of his mind. Now his mind was fixated on it, longing the tea to be finished, served and eaten quicker just so he could shoot upstairs and prevent himself going insane. "COME AND GET IT." Mrs Weasley's shout scared the living daylights out of him and successfully broke his train of thought, he'd never known a woman to be so loud before.

"Draco, I was just telling Arthur about all the Coke you bought at that cafe today," Potter said cheerfully as he walked, or rather half ran, into the kitchen followed by all of the others. Draco narrowed his eyes, judging by the look on Hermione's face the topic of muggle items had long since been exhausted and this was clearly just an attempt to pin some responsibility on Draco himself. However, out of fear of being rude, Draco turned to the older male with the most polite smile he could muster.

"You can have one of the bottles if you like?" He didn't think he'd seen someone look so happy and, he had to admit, that seeing Ginny smile fondly out the corner of his eye did make him feel great. He felt as though it was a sign of acceptance and so when Molly served the food, he felt more than comfortable tucking into his plate. Back at the manor family mealtimes were usually reserved for special occasions, such as a guest deciding to visit, and they were painfully formal ordeals. At the age of 5, Draco had known his way around a full dinners service, memorising the correct order to use all the tiny forks and the correct uses for the numerous knives for fear of being punished if he slipped up. His young age had never prevented his father using the cane with force. It didn't take him long to finish his serving either, Mrs Weasley's cooking was some of the best food he'd ever eaten and he found himself reaching to add more to his plate. It couldn't hurt him, after his time in the ministry he was looking thinner than usual and he'd never carried much weight on him.

"It's good isn't it?" Harry asked, noticing Draco taking seconds, the grin that played on his face used to piss Draco off to no end but now he barely noticed it, simply nodding his head. "Molly takes great joy in making sure everyone who stays leaves the burrow one waist size larger." He laughed softly, causing the red-haired woman to blush.

"Not my fault everyone that passes through here is on the peaky side m'dear," She spoke softly, vanishing the plates away as everyone finished eating. Draco had barely managed half of his second plate, something that made him feel a little bit guilty but he had to remind himself that he wasn't used to eating such large quantities yet. "Now out my kitchen the lot of you, I don't have it in me to make dessert but there's a box of fudge on the coffee table." Rubbing his stomach Draco did as he was told, ignoring the promise of fudge and trudging upstairs to the small bathroom.

"Alone time." He breathed out, nodding to his reflection in the mirror and muttering a couple spells under his breath to first thoroughly clean the tub then fill it with fragrant, bouncy bubbles. Now that he was no longer covered in a layer of grime he could afford to enjoy himself. After summoning a towel and spare clothes from his bedroom he locked the door, cast a privacy charm and dimmer the lights. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined taking a bath like this in the Weasley household. In fact, if he'd been told in his first year that this was going to happen he would have done everything humanly possible to avoid it, even as he sank into the warm water he couldn't help but feel a little wrong...But then the fragrance of the bubbles overwhelmed him and he sunk bank, eyes closing as he allowed his muscles to relax. All that walking around with Potter had truly drained him and he hadn't exactly had the most restful couple of months. The voices of everyone in the house were muffled due to the privacy charm and soon Draco felt comfortable enough to trail one hand down his chest, knowing the path to take to avoid the bumps of his scars well by this point, sucking in a breath as he got used to his own touch again. With his eyes closed, he allowed his imagination to wander, glossing over his last encounter with Parkinson and thinking instead of some imaginary women as his hand moved over his crotch, lip sucked between his teeth. Now this was something he'd missed. 

Like most in his early school years, his libido had been uncontrollable. However, despite the fact that the Slytherin house was very accepting of sex or anything of a sexual nature and, it was common practice for people to 'help each other out' Draco never indulged himself. Sure, the accepting nature of the house had allowed him to learn about the ins and outs of intimacy in a safe and open environment, giving him an idea of what he liked and what he didn't. But he'd never felt ready to personally experience it. Thankfully he'd always been able to rely on his blood status, citing the fact he 'had to wait for marriage' due to his families traditional views as his reason for constantly opting out. A couple of months ago if you'd asked Draco what his ideal sexual partner looked like his imaginary woman would have been his response, slender, pale, well developed with long hair and a dirty sort of smile but now, as his hand moved slowly around himself, soft splashes filling the air of the bathroom, the imaginary woman was morphing into someone else and that someone else was none other than _Blaise Zabini._ Someone quite different from his imaginary woman, most obviously due to the fact that he possessed a penis. Under normal circumstances he would have been concerned at the sudden realisation that he probably wasn't quite as straight as he'd always thought but, at that precise moment, he couldn't bring himself to care, having been deprived of relief for so long. Having seen Zabini that day and having been left breathless by the man's simple touch to his waist the image that was circulating his mind truly was incredibly vivid and rather mesmerising if he did say so himself, he could almost _feel_ the man's hands at his waist again. It was no surprise that he didn't last long, spilling messily over his hand and into the water in an orgasm that had his toes curling. It had been too long. 

"Way too long." He spoke out loud, reaching for his wand, _"Scourgify."_ The spell cleaned any traces of his 'mess' from the water, allowing him to actually get clean and enjoy his bath for a while longer. It was only after washing his hair with his more expensive, less practical shampoo and cleaning himself using a very heady shower gel that he emerged from the water, clean and sated, drying himself with a quick charm before sitting on the bath edge to apply lotion to his skin. Ok...maybe there had always existed signs that he was slightly homosexual. A laugh escaped his lips at his own expense as he towel dried his hair and pulled on his joggers and t-shirt. Just as he'd been introduced to sex in his fifth year he'd been introduced to jogging bottoms, a muggle clothing item that was undeniably a stroke of genius. He'd be oh so careful not to wear them around the manor, a gift from one of his many conquests who prided herself on her fashion knowledge, but he knew no one would bat an eyelid to them at the Burrow. After dressing he saw to his hair, trimming his fringe of so carefully and fixing the shape of his brows before cleaning out the tub and leaving the bathroom, feeling warm from head to toe.

"You took your ti-" Potter began to speak as Draco pushed open the door to the attic room but he bit his tongue halfway through the sentence in a way that made Draco cock his head to the side curiously.

"Hmm?" He asked, sitting down on the edge of his bed and stretching out, his shoulder emitting a rather satisfying click. "Did the Nargles get you or something? What were you saying?" If he wasn't mistaken a slight blush had spread over Potter's cheeks.

"Nothing, nothing, just lost my train of thought." He blundered and Draco accepted that answer, not wanting to pry any further. He was quite content to sit in silence considering the debate he had to have with himself now regarding his sexuality. It was odd. He'd spent many a year in the same dorm as Blaise and, although he couldn't deny he'd ever found the man attractive, _that_ had certainly never happened before. Their encounter earlier that day had been nothing out of the ordinary, sure there'd been a hint of suggestiveness but nothing that could explain a full-fledged sexual fantasy. Maybe it was spending so much time with Potter...Ok, that made him sound like the world biggest dickhead and a complete fucking idiot too. "What makes you sound like an idiot and a dickhead?" Potter asked and so now he wasn't just having a sexuality wobble he was speaking his thoughts out loud.

"Sorry, thinking out loud I guess." He muttered, hoping that had been all he said. "Nasty habit, just ignore me." But, judging by the look on Potter's face, Draco knew at once the man was most definitely not going to drop it. The dark haired man sat forward in his bed, narrowing his eyes.

"Y'know, given the fact you're pretty much stuck with me for two years you should probably get used to talking to me." Draco rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Potter I'm not going to talk to you about all the goings on in my life and all the problems I have to deal with so you can get that idea out of your head right now." For a moment the man looked cross but then a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

"Is it to do with going back to Hogwarts?"

"No."

"Is it to do with staying with the Weasley's?

"No."

"Is it to do with something that happened to today?" 

"If I say yes will you shut up?" Draco drawled, growing bored of the interrogation.

"It's something to do with that guy from outside the apothecary isn't it?"

"Potter if you're using fucking occulumency on me I will be forced to maim you"

"I don't need to now, you gave yourself away." And ah, Draco supposed he had. His cheeks flushed slightly and he looked down at his palms, trying to think of a way in which he could explain this away.

"He was in a relationship at the end of the war with Pansy, it wasn't the best relationship but it lasted quite a while. I'm considering trying to...make a move on her if she's also back at Hogwarts" It was a task to say that with a straight face, he honestly was repulsed by the girl "and I've been mulling over the best way to ask if he was ok with that." Potter looked suitably disappointed by this information and Draco couldn't help but grin slightly. His bluff appeared to have worked.

"Oh." He muttered, sitting back on his bed, no longer leaning forward in anticipation or smirking as though he'd won some great prize by tripping Draco over his words. "Well...I can't really be of much use there." Now it was Draco's turn to smirk, looking over at Potter on his bed 

"Wow, I'll definitely be confiding in the chosen one a lot more frequently." He spoke in a sing-song voice, causing Potter to glare and toss a pillow over at him. His hands moved to cover his face instantly but, the pillow never hit, instead it was frozen, stopped in mid-air by a very well timed freezing jinx. Granger and Weasley had entered the room something that made Draco frown at first but then he realised that over the past couple of days Harry really hadn't spent much time with his friends, they're probably come to make sure that he wasn't being held captive or something.

"Erm Harry?" Hermione spoke up, tone quite abrupt which came as a surprise, he would have expected her to be more warm with her closest friend. "We have that um...thing at number 12 tonight remember?" The dark haired boy was up off his bed in a flash, summoning his shoes, socks and a hoodie in great haste. 

"Shit, I forgot um...Malfoy you need to come with." This caused Granger's eyebrows to rise about an inch. When she opened her mouth to protest Harry was quick to stop her in her tracks, speaking firmly. "If I'm any great distance from him the Ministry get notified and he goes straight to Azkaban, he comes with us." Weasley looked ready to speak up but he decided against it after Granger elbowed him in the side, turning to face Draco instead.

"You should put shoes on" His voice showed his displeasure, not that Draco was particularly pleased himself. He'd been looking forward to just curling up in bed after his bath but now that was taken away from him. Knowing there was no point in protest he summoned his shoes and a jacket, too lazy to really care about the muggle trousers he was wearing.

"Do I get to know where we're going?" He asked slowly, looking first at Potter and then at Granger, not really trusting Weasley to answer his question properly given how blinded he was by hatred.

"Um...I'll explain when we're there, it's kinda official business. It won't take long." Potter muttered as two loud cracks sounded and the other two vanished from the room. He walked over and linked his arm with Draco's, following the example of his two friends and apparated from the room, pulling Draco away without a word of notice . 

Behind them, the pillow fell to the floor.


	6. Chapter Six

"Some warning would be nice." Draco groaned as they landed in what appeared to be a park, head spinning a little and stomach in knots. Of course, he could apparate without hesitation by himself but side-along was always worse, especially when no notice was given. The other three ignored him, all turning to face away from him, looking at what appeared to be a group of muggle flats. "Mind telling me where we are or am I not worthy of that information either?" He straightened up, paying attention to something other than the sick feeling he still had.

"Shu-"

"Ron." Weasley had begun to tell him to shut up but Granger's voice, heavy with an air of finality interrupted him. In the past, Draco would have sneered some joke about Granger keeping the ginger man on a short leash but they were not in the past and so he bit his lip, looking over at Potter who had his eyes closed in concentration and his wand pointed at the building, curiously enough the muggle flats were starting to separate, disturbing the quiet night air as metal bent and brick shifted.

"Won't the Muggles notice what's going on?" He asked, somewhat alarmed at Harry using what appeared to be very reckless magic. 

"Muggles don't notice anything." Came Potters dark reply as finally, the noise stopped. Between the muggle flats there now stood an incredibly large old house that bore the exact same magical vibe as the Malfoy manor. Draco wasn't sure if that was a good thing..."Now c'mon in, they'll notice us standing about gawping." Despite his internal debate regarding the nature of the house, Draco did as he was told, following Harry through the front door into a dark corridor. Eventually, they reached a sort of entrance hall and Potter waved his wand, filling the place with light. "Hermione? Can you explain this? I'll go find Kreacher." He muttered before running off, leaving Draco with the other two.

"Ok, so I'm sure by now you've heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" Draco nodded, they had fronted the good side after all. "Well, this was the headquarters. Not the cleanest or most modern of facilities but we couldn't afford to draw attention to ourselves. It was Sirius' old house but now it belongs to Harry, you can check out the Black family tree if you like." She pointed into a room that was emitting a particularly loud buzzing noise, he didn't feel inclined to investigate. "We come here every week to make sure everything is intact and check on the old house elf, see if he's heard anything from any old death eaters you see? He never has but we figured we'd check one last time before we went back to school you know? Plus Harry likes visiting the house." Draco simply nodded again, trying not to get too annoyed over the fact that he'd been dragged out of bed to check on an elf.

"So is the Order still a thing?" He asked nonchalantly, wanting to fill the silence.

"Yeah, we-"

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Weasley interrupted Draco immediately, an accusatory look on his face as he glanced between the pair. "I mean we can't very well tell him what the Order is doing considering he's well...one of _them_." Now it was Draco's turn to wear a look of accusation.

"And what do you mean by that?" He asked coolly, one eyebrow raised as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I mean you can wear as much muggle clothing as possible and pretend that you've changed but you're not really fooling anyone, you're still a murdering scumbag and you should be locked in Azkaban."

"Ron, Harry sai-" Hermione tried to reason

"I don't give a flying fuck what Harry said about this scumbag, his true colours are bound to show eventually and when they do, I'd rather he didn't have inside information on the Orders working to sell to all his Death Eater friends." Draco could feel his blood slowly boiling in his veins, hand gripping his wand rather tightly.

"I am not a Death Eater." His voice shook with anger, wearing an expression of rage that he'd hoped would have been intimidating. It wasn't. Ron simply laughed, pulling his own wand out and muttering an enchantment that caused Draco's sleeve to rise up, revealing the ugly snake tattoo on his forearm. 

"Could have fooled me." Draco's wand was out in a flash, pointed directly at Weasley's face. He didn't think he'd felt such a combination of rage and shame in his entire life. Not only was the tattoo a constant reminder of the pain and suffering he had inflicted or associated himself with it was an ever present reminder of the pain and torture, both physical and mental, that he had suffered. He was not about to have his past used against him by some Weasley when it already tormented him enough.

"You better watch your mouth." His tone was flat but his voice was loud, wand aimed perfectly at the space between Weasley's eyes. For a moment the ginger man looked frightened but this look of fear soon changed into a sneer worthy of a Slytherin as he raised his own wand.

"What are you going to do, _Death Eater_? Call some of your friends? Help them escape from Azkaban and have them kill me in my sleep?" He taunted, a cruel looked in his eyes that didn't suit him at all. "You make me sick." And with that, he spat at Draco's feet.

" _Langlock_ " Draco cried, smirking as Weasley clutched his mouth in surprise, clearly not expecting Draco to actually use his wand. The red-head now had his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth. He was about to launch into a speech in which he would further put the Weasley in his place but a caterwauling shriek interrupted him.

"FILTH! MORE FILTH HAS ASCENDED ON THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!" Draco found himself staring in disbelief at a portrait of one of his more distant Aunt's. The woman in the picture, old with heavy-lidded eyes (the most distinguishable feature of the Black line) was red in the face, age not limiting the volume of her voice, even from within a portrait. "THE MUD-BLOOD, THE BLOOD TRAITORS AND HE WHO HAS BROUGH DISGRACE TO THIS FAMILY. HEIR TO THE MALFOY ESTATE, RELATIVE TO THE HOUSE OF BLACK AND NO MORE THAN A-"

"That is ENOUGH you ghastly old crone." Potter's voice was soft but far from gentle as he came down the stairs, an ancient house-elf following behind him, leaning on a cane. He closed the curtains over the portrait as he descended, glaring at Draco and then at Weasley whose tongue had finally freed itself. Draco suspected that Hermione had muttered some sort of anti-jinx when he was distracted but that didn't seem to matter anymore. "What is the meaning of this? Ron how many times do I actually have to tell you that Draco is no more a death eater than you or I? Myself, your parents and half the Ministry are convinced he is innocent and so he has every right to know about the Order. Given that he's staying with me for a couple of years I am more than comfortable with telling him everything. And, as for you Draco although I am convinced by your innocence I would very much appreciate that you didn't jinx my best friends. If that continues you may find the deal we have gets a little more restrictive." He warned, using a tone Draco had never actually heard him use before. It made him sound like a Professor, maybe this was why Dumbledore's Army had been so popular in their fifth year, Potter was able to speak with a certain level of command. 

"But Harry-" Weasley began to complain but was stopped by a positively furious look from the dark haired man and, surprisingly enough, a clip around the ears from Hermione herself. Malfoy had forgot she was even there but she certainly didn't look impressed, glaring at her boyfriend.

"I told you so." Was all she said and Draco fought the urge to burst into laughter, knowing that laughing now would undoubtedly get him hexed. She was clearly still every bit the know it all she had been in school but Draco didn't really view that negatively anymore. There was no shame in being intelligent. 

"Whatever," Potter muttered under his breath, sounding disappointed rather than annoyed. "Kreacher has seen nothing, I'm beginning to think he's actually gone blind anyway so let's just go, this place is fucking freezing. " He wasn't wrong, Draco found he had subconsciously wrapped his arms around himself trying to keep warm and was all too happy to follow Granger and Weasley out of the house, Potter following close behind him. It was odd to him, to discover that Potter had a house of his own but still chose to live with the Weasleys. He would have interrogated him in order to find out exactly why this was but, given the disappointed tone, the man had spoken with he didn't think his questions would be well received. They could be saved for another time. 

"Don't hang about in the street or worry about going back into the park, just apparate the moment you're out the door, you'll still be within the house wards so no one will see you." Draco nodded at Potter's quiet advice, watching as Hermione and Ron disappeared with loud cracks before following close behind. His desire for his bed was now surpassed by his longing to know what the Order was doing. With Voldemort gone he didn't really think they'd been up to much, probably just basking in their new found notoriety but from the way Weasley had acted, they were clearly planning something. Hopefully, Harry wasn't too cross with him for losing his temper to give him some information once they were alone.

"Night Molly, Hermione," Draco said politely as he arrived in the living room of the burrow, smiling softly at the older woman before giving Hermione a nod, pointedly ignoring Ron. Hearing the loud crack of Harry's arrival behind him he made his way up to the attic, mentally cursing at the large amount of stairs his rather tired legs had to move him up. Of course, he could have just apparated again but, in his increasingly more tired state he didn't want to risk losing concentration and splinching himself. Especially as, now that he was alone with his thoughts, they getting progressively less...innocent. 

"Why are you grinning like a Cheshire cat?" Potter muttered, causing Draco to jump slightly then frown, opening his mouth to question the man's phrasing but being cut to the chase. "It's a muggle thing...don't worry about it." He sighed, kicking his shoes off in a rather haphazard manner that reminded Draco to do the same and flopping back on his small bed. "I'm guessing you want to know about the Order?"

"Naturally." Draco drawled, carefully placing his shoes to the side of his bed before laying back on the sheets. "Is it a particularly long story? You did interrupt my plans to sleep after all." He added for good measure. In reality, he wanted Potter to hurry up and go to sleep so he could pad off to the bathroom again and really focus on the details of his daydream. In order to be sure that he liked men more experimentation was going to be needed, he had to be sure that he hadn't just been overwhelmed or hexed by Blaise before he came to any rash conclusions about his preferences. Unfortunately, given that he was sharing with Potter, this experimentation would have to be done in private and so whatever conversation they had about the order had to go down quickly. 

"Don't worry, I won't waste much more of your precious time." The dark haired man mocked, sitting cross-legged on top of his bedspread as Draco wrapped the covers around himself. For a moment Harry's eyes were fixed on Draco's pale wrists, admiring how dainty they actually looked but he tore them away the moment he realised what he was doing. "It's not so much a story as a summary, basically the order is still dedicated to stopping Voldemort rising to power, even in death so we're responsible for tracking down Death Eaters as well as those who are investigating ways to restore him to power. We're quite heavily involved in auror training, despite the fact only a few of us are qualified aurors. The Ministry seems to want our say on things and...ummm and I'm heavily involved with the Ministry myself. I give evidence against people and help them to fill in gaps in their records, the Death Eaters stopped recording who they were killing at one point...." He trailed off, eyes going slightly glassy, presumably reminded of some horror from the war. Draco himself felt the weight of the man's last sentence, remembering how frequently his father would send lower order Death Eaters with a list of targets and the plans that had been to use people who weren't purebloods as their personal slaves.

It made him physically sick.

"Ok," Draco eventually whispered, nodding slowly and laying back on his bed, pretending to get comfortable and watching as Potter did the same. Despite his sudden desire to join the order, to repay the debt he owed to all the families his father had destroyed and taunted he remained quiet, feigning sleep. Even if he did tell Potter he wanted to join the other man would never allow it, the rest of the light side would refuse to accept his presence just as Ron had. Although he was anxious to clear the Malfoy name he would have to wait until the time for repaying debts was truly upon him. Any move he made now would be regarded with suspicion or judged to be the work of Potter.

"Night Malfoy." The other muttered, causing him to jump slightly having grown accustomed to the silence.

"Good night." His voice was tight, the exchange of bedtime wishes was a bit too domestic for him to be entirely comfortable. In fact, he didn't think he'd felt so uncomfortable since arriving but that was probably partially down to the hard on he was sporting underneath his strategically placed covers. It was as if he was 13 again, wanking for the first time in the bathroom of his dorm, however, now it wasn't images of ditsy little pureblood girls giving him his kicks, it was the image of one very strong, dark-haired man holding him against the bed and just having his...He sat up abruptly, blushing furiously and shaking his head to clear it of such fantasies. His sexuality was definitely being brought into questioning but first, he had to do something about the situation between his legs. Thankfully Potter had been quick to fall asleep, soft snores filling the bedroom air and so Draco was able to sneak out of bed and into the bathroom, casting the same protective charms around it that he had when taking a bath. 

Unfortunately for him, although he had been able to enjoy himself and he had been able to take care of his little...situation when he returned he found that Potter was sat up on his bed, awaiting his return just as he had been the other night. He didn't look very impressed. Draco could tell straight away that he was in for a lecture.

"What are you playing at? I thought I told you last night that it's not smart for you to wander off the minute I fall asleep?" He whisper-snapped, glare following Draco as he sheepishly slid back into bed. "Where were you this time? Don't tell me you were in the garden because I actually looked at the window to check. You do realise this doesn't really show a great deal of gratitude for what I did for you?" Merlin, Draco was finding it increasingly hard not to laugh. It was quite amusing to know he was getting told off for sneaking away to have a wank, Harry would certainly stop questioning him if he revealed that was the reason for his disappearance. 

"Oh don't get your robes in a twist." He snapped, deciding against being so vulgar. It really wasn't the way he'd been brought up although he hadn't exactly been brought up to find males attractive either, the focus of any young, male purebloods life was to find an equally pureblooded wife and have a heir after all. "I went down to the kitchen and put myself a little snack together." He lied easily, glad that the Slytherin in him allowed his lies to be pretty much undetectable. Potter had seemed to buy it at least, narrowing his eyes.

"How come I didn't hear you come up the stairs?" He asked slowly causing Draco to sigh heavily, picking up his wand and holding it out to Potter as though he was showing a toddler.

"This is a wand Potter, all wizards and witches have them. They mean we can cast spells, like the silencing spell which is useful at stopping us being heard when we don't want to risk waking people up." He spoke very slowly, ennunciating each word deliberately in a way that caused Potter to throw a cushion at him. His aim was pretty shit considering how much Quidditch he played but Draco supposed that, as a seeker, Potter had never required decent aim, only excellent vision. 

"Fuck off back to sleep Draco." Potters tone could only be described as sulky, breaking Draco from his train of thought. 

"That was the plan prior to your interrogation." He muttered, feeling the need to get the last word in as he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. 

It took him ten minutes to realise that Potter had actually used his first name and, for some reason, after this revelation he was entirely unable to drift off into sleep. 


	7. Chapter Seven

The rest of Draco's week at the Burrow passed by him in a blur, the days fading into one another as though he was blinking instead of sleeping, interrupted only by the odd clash with Ronald who could not seem to leave their past in the past, despite the acceptance of his family. His nights, however, were not so quick. They were either drawn out by nightmares that would leave him both sweaty and humiliated, unable to sleep due to fear of their return or interrupted by sexual fantasies that left him way too charged up to even think about sleep and were only satisfied by him relieving himself. He was rather ashamed to admit that it had become a habit for him to sneak away to the bathroom whilst Harry was soundly asleep but at least he had figured his orientation out. He was still attracted to females and many of his fantasies did involve women but, seeing as he couldn't stop imagining Blaise performing many sex acts on him, he'd realised he was more than likely bisexual. It wasn't really that big of a deal but at least he now had an identifier other than Death Eater. Well, he would have when he finally decided to tell people. At that current moment he had no one to tell other than Potter and, as the man had only come out to him a couple of days previously, he didn't want to seem as though he was copying. Malfoys never copy, they bask in their own limelight and originality and although he saw himself less and less of a Malfoy as the days went by he still kept his mouth shut, focusing instead on the fact that the date of his return to Hogwarts was looming ever closer.

"How the fuck are you two so cheerful this early in the morning?" He spat, no real animosity in his voice as he watched Hermione and Ginny chasing the gnomes around the garden. It was a nice day, despite the fact it was mid-September and as Potter was still fast asleep he'd decided to spend some time with the girls rather than just sitting and waiting for the man to get up. Although they were far from close he definitely got on better with Hermione and Ginny, they were appreciative of him helping Luna and realised that for Ginny's parents to allow Draco to stay the memories Draco was concealing must make him more than deserving of some peace. Hermione simply chuckled, standing still and looking at him with a grin on her face.

"Degnoming gets the adrenaline going you should join us, It's a good way to wake up." She said breathlessly as Ginny picked a gnome up by its chubby ankles and swung it around. Now that Draco wasn't on an opposing side to the muggle-born girl he could afford to recognise that the girl had grown into her looks. Gone was the slightly buck-toothed, frizzy-haired and flat chested girl he'd known in school, she was now rather pleasant on the eyes. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud, it would only give Ron more reason to want to kill him. He narrowed his eyes a little, glaring at one of the gnomes that was pulling a particularly ugly face at him before standing up, sighing as though even moving pained him.

"So I just pick them up and spin?" He asked gingerly, nudging the tiny creature with his foot and yelping as the bastard bit him. Ginny burst into raucous laughter, watching as Draco forgot his inhibitions, picking up the offending gnome and throwing it quite a distance.

"You would have made quite the chaser Malfoy." She whistled lowly. "But I bet you I can throw it further." What had been a fun way to wake up in the morning and a household chore soon became a fierce competition with Hermione judging which one of them actually threw further. The gnomes loved it, waddling back for more when they regained consciousness in a manner even Draco found amusing and Draco had to admit Ginny was pretty fun too. She was just as wild as Luna had described and as she had been on the Quidditch pitch back at Hogwarts, cursing him bitterly whenever one of her gnomes fell short of his. 

"What the hell is going on here?" About half an hour into their game they were interrupted by a rather bemused Potter who had perched himself on the edge of Draco's conjured chair and was watching the competition with a rather peculiar smirk on his face. Draco found himself blushing a dark shade of red, running a hand through his unkempt morning hair and shifting from one foot to another. He really didn't have an explanation for his sudden childish behaviour and he felt almost ashamed. His father would have murdered him had he been seen by anyone of prestige participating in such an undignified game.

"Draco found his sense of humour." Ginny offered as an explanation before Draco could even open his mouth to utter some sort of loathing remark to the dark haired man. "In fact, he's just beat me at gnome tossing, he's rather good actually." Surprisingly enough there was no bitterness in her voice as she readily admitted to her defeat, a stark contrast to how she would have been had she lost a Quidditch match if his memory served him correctly. And he was pretty sure that it did. "You should play him." She added with a grin, watching as Draco turned even redder. He wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that everyone was suddenly keen to call him by his first name or the offer the redhead had made. Although he was more accepting of Potter's presence in his life he wasn't sure he was ready to let the man see this side of him. The side that was more vulnerable. 

"I doubt he could beat me." Potter challenged, a smirk taking over his face that caused Draco's blush to fade and his narrow-eyed glare to return. 

"We'll have to see about that, Potter. Ginny will you be the judge?" She just nodded, laughing slightly to herself as she went to sit on the grass beside Hermione and the two men sidled up to one another, standing only a metre apart behind a tree trunk so neither would have an advantage due to where they were standing. For some odd reason, Draco was still nervous, heart racing with anticipation and the pressure to perform well. It was almost as though he was reliving his first Quidditch match against Potter and he wasn't entirely sure why his emotions were amplified to that height over a gnome throwing contest. Either way, he was determined to win, knowing there was time enough in what would remain of the day to figure out why his feelings were going haywire. 

An hour later he was forced to admit his defeat, however, losing was made a lot more enjoyable by the bacon sandwiches Mrs Weasley had conjured up for them when they finally trudged back into the house. Ron had scowled, taking a seat beside Hermione and pointedly attempting to shift the conversation topic away from gnome tossing as if he couldn't bare to praise Draco in any way but Hermione wasn't having any of it, chatting happily with Draco as though they'd been friends for years. He almost wished they had been friends for years purely because of how frequently it would have allowed him to see the look of horror and resentment Ron was currently wearing. He hadn't thought it possible for someone to look so unhappy whilst eating food that was so good but he assumed Ron was just used to Mrs Weasley's cooking and didn't appreciate it anymore.

"Thank you, Molly." He said softly, finishing his second sandwich and rubbing his stomach contently. "I can't remember the last time I had bacon that nice." It took no effort to be nice to Molly, she was a natural motherly figure and was by far his favourite of the Weasley's already. Arthur was still very stiff around him, Ginny was only inviting when Hermione was by her side or when it was late at night and Ron was...well, Ron was still scowling. No matter what Potter told him the ginger man couldn't even bring himself to try and be civil but, to Draco that was far from surprising, Ron didn't have a single civilised bone in his body he guessed.

"It's no bother m'dear now, are you and Harry all packed for tomorrow? We have an early start, we can't possibly apparate to kings cross with all your stuff so the only option is to drive you see? Unfortunately, it's quite the distance from here to London so you need to get everything sorted out tonight." She fussed, taking his plate from the table and taking Harry's also. The dark haired man smiled, as their return to Hogwarts crept ever closer the man's mood had gradually improved. He was much less annoying which actually annoyed Draco even more, it was hard to hate someone when they weren't actually causing you any problems. 

"Yeah, we're all sorted, just the last little bits." Potter lied through his teeth, giving Molly a warm smile before heading for the stairs, Draco following him quickly. In the week he'd been there his things had managed to...spread themselves out quite a bit, partially because Potter kept pissing him off so he kept charming them to hit the man in the face or follow him around the room. It had been quite amusing to see Potter being tailed by his Quidditch socks but now he had to pack them, something told him Molly wouldn't be quite as likeable if she was held up in the morning.

"Fuck." He muttered under his breath as he reached their floor and looked around the absolute mess of a room. Even with their wands, this was going to take a while. "This is all your fault Potter." He spoke a little louder, glaring at the man for good measure as he jumped over a couple of socks and sat on the edge of his bed, opening his trunk and beginning to accio all of his things.

"My fault?" Potter sounded alarmed, one eyebrow raised as he copied Draco, looking so taken aback Draco had to fight not to laugh. "How is this my fault?" 

"Because you wind me up to the point where I have no choice but to charm my socks to follow you and then they end up getting tired and falling on the floor." He explained, as though it was blatantly obvious. 

"I'm sorry but you're the one who winds me up! You're always complaining about something or telling me what to do." The dark haired man scowled, waving his wand at the pile of his summoned things in an attempt to get them to start folding themselves. It took him several attempts to succeed to Draco's great delight, he had set up a nice rhythm with his folding charm, lazing back on top of the comforter.

"Well maybe if you weren't so bloody useless I wouldn't have to tell you what to do." Was his half-hearted retort.

"You're the useless one Mr My-Parents-Had-House-Elves." Potter singsonged, looking up from his folding to meet Draco's eyes. 

"You should be used to housework Mr Cupboard-Under-The-Stairs."

"And you should be used to sharing Mr My-Home-Was-Home-To-A-Great-Fucking-Group-Of-Death-Eaters."

"Bet that was more pleasant than sharing a tent with Weasley and his girlfriend."

"At least Wea-Ron has a girlfriend." Potter blushed slightly at his mistake, Draco simply smirked.

"I happen to have taste."

"You're just not ready to accept how unattractive you are, are you?"

"Well maybe if someone hadn't permanently scarred me I would be a bit more desirable." Potter's mouth shut quickly and Draco did a mental celebratory dance at winning their little spat. It had been a cheap card to play, he knew how much it upset Potter to think of the bathroom incident but he also knew how much the man would have rubbed it in had he come out triumphant. They fell into a silence, focusing on picking up the bits and pieces that their summoning charms hadn't affected, most of it was just Weasley's Wizard Wheezes paraphernalia from when George had visited that had interested Draco a great deal but there was the odd vial of potions ingredients or dust covered textbook hidden under their beds. It was Potter who broke the silence first.

"Are they bad?" He was trying to sound casual, as though he wasn't really that interested in the answer but Draco saw right through it. There was a definite guilty look in the man's eyes that gave him away.

"Not really, Snape healed them pretty effectively." He answered quietly, a small lie but one he was prepared to tell. As much as he enjoyed holding it above Potter's head the man didn't deserve to feel actual guilt, he was just joking when he brought it up.

"Show me." Draco raised one eyebrow, noting how the man's tone shifted from casual to commanding. Obviously, Potter had seen straight through his lie and, judging from the change in his tone he was quite desperate to see the damage he'd inflicted all those years ago. For a moment, out of stubbornness, Draco was going to refuse point blank to show the man his chest, holding his shirt to him in case Potter attempted to vanish it away but, after a moment of consideration, he decided that the man deserved to see. Maybe seeing would stop him feeling so guilty. 

"Fine." Potter just nodded, sitting down on his bed again and watching Draco carefully. Had Draco not been internally cursing himself for getting himself in this situation he probably would have had the decency to blush under the man's intense gaze, however, due to his inner turmoil, he paid no mind to Harry, shrugging his shirt off in a rush. The quicker it was off, the quicker Potter gawped at him, the quicker he could go back to sorting out his trunk.

"Fuck." And yeah...ok, so maybe it wasn't that little of a lie. Draco's chest was split down the middle by one large scar that appeared to branch off into multiple smaller lacerations, spanning his entire upper body in an arrangement made messy by the haphazard placement of the smaller cuts. The scars, although just as pale as his own skin were made more prominent due to how raised they were, a reminder of how deep the spell had cut. "Merlin Draco...I mean... fuck." Potter was lost for words, standing up quickly and crossing the threshold of the room to stand in front of the blonde man, hand reaching out and tracing the length of the largest scar before Draco could stop him, truly getting an idea of the damage he had inflicted. It caused Draco to shiver, gooseflesh breaking out over the skin that wasn't torn.

"Look, don't beat yourself up over it. There's nothing you can do now and you didn't know what the spell would do. Plus, I started the duel in the first place." He made a move to put his shirt back on but Potter stopped him, green eyes burning with...sadness? Strange. He'd been about to open his mouth again, make some sarcastic remark about their practically being tears in the man's eyes but Potter interrupted him by scoffing slightly and pulling his hand away from the scar as though it had burnt him.

"You wouldn't have started the fight if I hadn't been following you about and you know it, I saw you crying Draco, I should have just left." He muttered darkly, looking down at the floor in a way that made Draco roll his eyes. How typically Gryfinndor of the man.

"Oh shut up, they're not even that bad." He snapped, reaching to pull his shirt back on. "I won't have you beating yourself up over defending yourself." Potter reached his hand out once more, grabbing Draco's wrist this time and meeting his eyes with a rather intense look.

"Even if your spell had hit me it wouldn't have done any damage, Voldemort himself told me that in order for Crucio to work you have to mean it and you didn't mean it." Draco had to fight from cursing Potter where they stood, not appreciating the patronising nature in which the man was trying to justify his completely unjustifiable guilt.

"Seriously? Firstly I said shut up and secondly you have absolutely no idea what I was feeling when I went to the bathroom, the spell would have worked for sure even if my anger wasn't for you. Now stop being..."

"Being what?" He shot Potter his best glare as the man interrupted him, sighing heavily and shaking his wrist in an attempt to get Potter to loosen his grip.

"Such a fucking Gryffindor. Just stop. I can't stand it much longer." His words were laced with a tone of exasperation that dripped from his tongue with minimal effort, meeting the other man's eyes and trying to keep his face fixed in a glare.

"Oh fuck off Malfoy, I'm just as much of a Slytherin as you are, I begged the fucking sorting hat to put me in Gryffindor. This has nothing to do with pride or houses, it's basic human decency to feel shit when you realise you mutilated someone." A scoff left Malfoy's lips.

"Regardless of what you were at the time of sorting you've certainly...assimilated into the Gryffindor culture. And how the fuck did you not realise you'd 'mutilated' me? I nearly bled out on the bathroom floor. Clearly, you're a part troll or something, that's the only way to explain how fucking dense you are."

"I'm not dense." Came Potter's protest almost the second the words had been spoken. Again Malfoy scoffed, rolling his eyes and trying once more to get the other wizard to let go of him. Unfortunately for him, the-chosen-one was stronger than he looked and it didn't take long for Draco to give up his half-hearted attempts. "It's not a crime to feel bad about doing something you know?"

"Yeah it's not a crime but it's bloody fucking stupid. Why do you have to act like a saint all the ti-" Malfoy was cut short abruptly, not by a verbal interruption as he had been previously but by a sudden pressure on his mouth.

Potter had kissed him.

Draco froze up instantly, eyes widening, his free arm dropping to his side as he tried to process what the fuck was going on. Now normally he was a good kisser, a fucking great one actually, you could ask any of his previous conquests that but this was his first time kissing a man and Merlin he hadn't expected the first male he kissed to be Harry fucking Potter. He blinked slightly, realising that he wasn't even kissing back, he was just standing there with Potter's mouth against his but for some reason Potter wasn't even trying to provoke Draco's mouth into moving, seemingly content enough with the fact their lips were joined. Well, he was either content or also frozen to the spot and something told Draco that the latter was probably the more viable option. Eventually, Potter seemed to realise what he'd done and pulled back as abruptly as he'd leant in, green eyes wide behind those stupid fucking glasses.

"Erm." He began, letting go of the wrist that he was still holding. Draco's eyes narrowed, opening his mouth to give the man a piece of his mind but deciding against it, exhaling heavily before speaking in a tone much calmer than he thought himself capable of.

"I don't even want to hear your justification for that." Although his voice lacked anger it was still stiff, as rigid as the awkward air between them. "Just let me forget it ever happened and leave me alone, please." He added, going back to packing his trunk. To his great joy, Potter did as he was told for once, keeping the silence between them even when they were both finished packing. In fact, the silence lasted for the rest of the day, only being broken when they bid each other goodnight, the last time they would do so at the Burrow. This wasn't exactly something that filled Malfoy with delight as, the next night would be the first time they bade each other goodnight at Hogwarts and, their kiss (if you could even call it that) was not going to help their time at Hogwarts fly by. In fact, it was going to make the year drag out rather uncomfortably if Draco's gut feelings were anything to go off. He was still in disbelief that the man had acted so rashly, ruining the little friendship they had managed to establish after being forced to spend time with one another. He couldn't possibly have expected Draco to enjoy the kiss, could he? As always Potter had acted without thinking, leaving Draco humiliated and angry. Malfoy's were not supposed to be embarrassed, no one was supposed to have power over their emotions and, although normally Draco prided himself on his self-restraint, there was something about Potter that made him forget that he was a Malfoy. Ever since the man had rejected his friendship in first year he'd been the bane of Draco's life. It was Potter's fault he'd been turned into a ferret, Potter's fault he'd lost Slytherin 100 points for a harmless dementor costume, Potter's fault he was scarred, Potter's fault his father was completely harmless. The list went on. Potter seemed to have it out for Draco's pride and that kiss was the final straw. No more would he let his emotions be so easily affected by that specky git he decided, getting under the covers of his bed for the last time and putting in his ear plugs in. Despite how worked up he was he was quick to fall asleep, exhausted from the stress the day had brought and his recent habit of having late nights.

That night, for some reason, Blaise's face morphed into Harry's.


	8. Chapter Eight

Neither Harry nor Draco remembered to set an alarm for the morning, both of them too shell-shocked by the events that had interrupted their packing. And, although not setting an alarm did earn them a blissful half an hour extra sleep it also earnt them a rather rude awakening from a rather pissed off Molly Weasley. In all honesty, Draco would have preferred to have had less sleep as the woman had seemingly forgotten all of her hosting manners, wrenching the covers off both his and Harry's bodies with a single sweep of her wand whilst shouting urgently. It took her a good five minutes to get over the shock of going upstairs to find the boys still in bed and leave to go help the others, muttering about what would happen to the pair if they dared put another toe out of line but this was something Draco was actually grateful for. The urgency that his movements required given how behind schedule they now were meant that, even if he had actually wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to speak to Harry as multi-tasking would definitely have slowed him down. It was quite relieving to have an excuse for his silence.

"Sorry for being shirty dear," Molly said fondly when they eventually trudged downstairs, having made up for lost time by skipping breakfast. He was incredibly glad he had actually packed the night previously and that he hadn't been in need of a shower either. Something told him Molly would have had no qualms with breaking the wards he usually placed on the door and pulling his naked self out of the shower if it meant they would get to the platform on time. He nodded his response to her, yawning dramatically and getting into the seven seater car, climbing to the seats right at the back as, if he sat there no one would need to sit beside him. Thankfully the others recognised his desire to be left to himself, the golden trio sitting in the three seats in front of him and Ginny next to her father in the front. It appeared Molly wouldn't be coming with them, muttering something about car sickness as she charmed all of their trunks to fit perfectly in the boot. He'd never been in a car like this before but, even if he hated it he wouldn't complain, in fact he'd pretty much decided to take a vow of silence after the events of last night. The way he was feeling, even if the conversation topic was about something as mundane as cars he would probably go loopy trying to surpress the urge to confront Potter about their....their kiss. He had to maintain his control, his image, at least whilst still in the company of the Weasleys. There would be plenty time for losing his temper with Potter when they were in their shared fucking bedroom at the castle. A sigh left his lips, the only noise he dared emit as the car began to move, resting his head on his hand and his elbow on the window sill he closed his eyes, determined to ignore the mess he was in until it was time to confront it head on. It wasn't his intention to fall asleep but he did anyway, more tired than he'd initially assessed after the rather restless night and sudden awakening.

The waking he got when they reached the station was no less sudden. It was Ron who got tasked with that responsibility and he took no enjoyment, shouting Draco's surname, in an angry sort of tone and shaking him out of his slumber. Draco ignored the red haired man entirely. He was not about to thank or make conversation with someone who had made it very clear he was not wanted, even when everyone else had given up their grudges. Regardless of what Harry wanted from him that year the golden trio would reman just that, a trio and he would remain a Malfoy, with all of his pride and all of his cunning in tact. After stretching slightly he got out of the car, absent mindedly fixing his hair and continuing to pointedly ignore Harry as he got his trunk out of the boot. Although he could not stalk off, needing to stay in close range of Potter whilst in public, he made it very clear that if he could've he would've, sighing loudly as the Weasley clan said goodbye to their father and walking ahead of them all when they finally headed towards the platform. His insides were twisting as he walked, the only sign of the nerves he was surpressing. The Hogwarts he remembered was the Hogwarts of the war, the Hogwarts that had plagued him in both his sixth and seventh year. Although he had only spent one term of what would've been his seventh year in his castle he had seen enough to forget the happy memories of his first four or so years. A shiver passed through him as his mind briefly wandered back to the first time he had seen the Carrows give out detention but he did his best to act as though it hadn't happen, keeping his nose in the air as he passed through the barrier effortlessly. He wasn't stupid. He knew that many would put him on the same page as those monsters, there was no point ignoring the fact that this year was going to be very difficult even with the Wizengamot dropping all of their charges. He couldn't very well show every student in his year the memories he kept hidden and so he couldn't very well persuade them of his innocence either. Not that he really cared what they thought of him...

"Draco!" A voice interrupted his train of thought, a voice that didn't belong to any of the Weasleys, Granger or Potter and a voice that had used his first name. He bit back a grin, turning around slowly and sending the owner of said voice a coy smirk.

"Blaise." He said with a soft nod, walking towards the man, putting some distance between him and his guardian. "I can't say how much of a relief it is to see you." He sighed, looking around for other familiar faces hopefully, scowling slightly when he saw none "Are we the only ones who've returned?" Now that he was paying attention there was a distinct lack of recognisable voices on the platform also, he supposed that meant most of his old friends wouldn't be coming back.. Blaise nodded his head, reaching and wrapping an arm around Draco's shoulder, guiding him down the platform in the opposite direction to which the golden trio was walking. It took a great deal of self-restraint for the blonde to fight back the blush that threatened to spread over his face as the subject of his sexual fantasies touched him so casually.

"The Weasley lot not grown on you then?" Zabini quizzed, eyeing the gaggle of redheads over his shoulder distastefully. "And yes, pretty much. The others were...interested at the prospect of continuing their studies but considered sharing a tower with everyone else to be...well, somewhat of a security risk." He laughed as though he'd told a joke but Draco knew their was no joy behind it, after what happened to Nott it was only sensible for members of the Slytherin house to watch their backs, the vigalantes were brutal. "Anyway, enough chatter, lets get a compartment, we should be able to keep Potter off your tail if we're quick enough." Maybe Draco's nod was a bit eager but he couldn't bring himself to care. He couldn't stand to be in silence any longer and he certainly wasn't ready to find out why the other man had actually kissed him. Besides, alone time with Blaise was a welcoming thought, considering the dreams he'd been having of late. With them being the only 8th year slytherins to return he guessed they would be spending a lot of time alone and that was definitely something his imagination was going to run wild with. Blaise smirked softly and led Draco onto the train, their trunks left on the platform to be checked and loaded by the elves. McGonagall was taking no risks this year, all of their property would have to be searched before it came anywhere near Hogwarts and for once Draco didn't object to the invasion of privacy. It was, even in his view, a necessary precaution. To both of their surprise they found a compartment with relative ease down in what had always been considered the Slytherin carriage of the train. The emptiness of thise section was obviously a direct result of their being few Slytherins returning to Hogwarts, whether in their year or the lower years but Draco couldn't bring himself to complain. Maybe things would be easier if there was less of them, those who shared the attitude of the vigalantes would perhaps tire of taunting a smaller group faster than they would a larger group.

"How was your summer?" He spoke abruptly, not wanting to risk his mind wandering to all the times he had taunted people for things beyond their control. Self-deprecation would get him nowhere, he couldn't afford to start to obsess over the events that would undoubtedly be thrown in his face throughout the year and so distraction Blaise seemed to sense his need for conversation, sitting close by Draco's side, despite there being an empty seat opposite him.

"Oh, you know." He shrugged, shifting slightly to get comfortable and eventually settling on swinging his long legs up, resting his feet in Draco's lap. Had anyone else made that move without asking Draco probably would have hexed their feet off but as it was Blaise he could bring himself to relax, waiting for the man to continue speaking. "My mother got herself a new little boy toy and I had to amuse myself during the time I didn't spend in the Ministry getting questioned. Thankfully mother's boyfriend just so happened to be on the investigative team and so they treated me as nothing more than a witness to the events, didn't consider pressing a single charge. That was a relief, I have to say, but it seems you're summer managed to be exciting even with the ministry up your ass." It was quite a task to keep his eyes away from Blaise's lips as the man spoke but he managed it well for the most part. He couldn't afford to display any signs of arousal with the other in such close contact.

"Oh yes." Came his drawling response, eyes rolling. "My week with Potter and Weasleys was totally envigorating, loved every single second of it. Do you know I had to help them degnome their garden? They don't have a house elf so the gnomes think they own the place." Of course, he omitted anything that would suggest he had actually enjoyed the degnoming from his tale, not wanting Blaise to picture him doing something so unseemly. The way Blaise had laughed, shaking his head with a wide grin on his face made him content with his selective information sharing.

"Oh dear. And here was me thinking that all the orange hair was going to be the worst thing. I was half expecting you to come back ginger. You'd suit the Weasley look" Draco faked a dramatic gasp, glaring at his friend.

"Take it back." He said firmly.

"Make me." Blaise's tone had Draco's heart fluttering inside of his chest. He'd lost track of the times he'd heard Blaise say those exact words in that same voice within his nighttime fantasies. If he wasn't mistaken there was a slight lust in Blaise's eyes as he leant in slightly, eyes narrowed.

"No problem." There was an edge to his own voice he barely recognised but he didn't dwell on that, leaning in closer just to see Blaise's reaction before moving his hands to the man's side slowly. "Now I'm going to give you one chance to change your mi-" The loud crashing of their compartment door cut him off.

"Are we interrupting something." Draco all but growled, sitting up quickly and glaring at the three intruders, focusing particularly on the smirking red-head who had spoken so teasingly.

"As a matter of fact, you are now what is it that you three want?" There was a silence between the three. Although Potter was clearly the leader and the reason they were standing here he was also still unwilling to speak to Draco still. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Draco you're not supposed to leave Harry's side." She chided. "You really ought to come sit with us and him."

"I hardly see that to be necessary. It's not as though I can escape the train and, even if I could I'd rather not right now. As I said you three are interrupting something." If he was exaggerating his and Blaise's situation with the sole intention of needling Harry that was his business.

"Yes but the Minis-"

"The train journey is less than an hour, even the Ministry would agree that I can cause or come to minimal harm in such a short amount of time. Now, although your concern is...appreciated, I am not coming to sit with you." He sneered, sitting up even straighter, Blaise's feet still in his lap. For some reason Potter was staring at them. Hermione nudged him, clearly at a loss.

"Then we'll sit with you." Finally, the Boy-Who-Lived found his voice and Hermione couldn't help but look smug. Ron, on the other hand, looked furious, Draco was furious and opened his mouth to protest but Blaise who managed to get words out first, eyeing the three intruders cooly. Hermione had the sense to blush.

"Who would have taken the golden trio for a bunch of peeping toms." He sneered, going along with Draco's exaggeration without any hesitation.

"What?" Ron barked, not understanding the muggle expression. Draco wasn't all too clear on it himself, Blaise's mother was never concerned about the blood status or magical ability of her suitors and so Blaise often used odd phrases and expressions that he had learnt from his oh so temporary father figures. He'd used this one before, it had something to do with voyeurism if he remembered correctly. Blaise simply sighed, clearly content to have caught at least one of the three out.

"Well as Draco said you really are interrupting something even with you lot here it really is something we'd like to be getting back to." Before Ron could protest again, or even process what had been said, Blaise had moved his legs from Draco's lap in one swift motion. This made it possible for him to scoot closer, cupping Draco's cheek in his hands as he did so before joining their lips together roughly, becoming the second man to kiss the blonde in the space of a day. It was confusing, to say the least, but it also felt good, really good and so Draco allowed himself to kiss back, pushing down the strange feeling of guilt that had bubbled in his stomach the minute their lips had been pressed together. He had no reason to feel guilty.

Or at least that's what he tried to convince himself.

"Oh bloody hell," Ron whispered from somewhere far away, not that Draco really cared. His lips were locked with Blaise Zambini's and the man hadn't stopped moving closer, half in his lap by the time someone cleared their throat loud enough for Blaise to wrench away. The cool look he had previously warn was replaced with his darkest of glares as he noticed that, instead of leaving all of the three were still sat exactly where they had been. Ron was looking rather pale, Hermione wore no expression on her face and Potter...well, Malfoy couldn't bring himself to look Potter in the eye just yet.

"You three don't give up do you?" He muttered, slipping out of Draco's lap to sit in a slightly more dignified position. Malfoy fought back a whine at the sudden loss of the man's warm body from his lap, he'd be damned if he came across as some pathetic, pining, lust driven teenager in front of those three. He was a Malfoy, he was more than capable of exercising his self-control around Blaise until they were able to explore further. That is if Blaise actually wanted to go further and hadn't just been taking a moment to get revenge on the three who had torn up their friendship group. That was not pleasant to think about, though, Draco very much hoped the kiss hadn't been solely about humiliating the three as it was undeniably the best kiss he'd ever had.

Even if Blaise's lips hadn't felt quite as soft as Potters.

\- - -

Even with the presence of the Golden trio the train journey passed by much quicker than Draco had expected. The last couple of times he'd journeyed to Hogwarts time had appeared to stand still, a symptom of his fear and anxiety regarding his task no doubt but still, he wasn't exactly relaxed now either. Half of him feared getting murdered by some stupid Potter fan whilst the other half feared getting murdered by Potter himself. Although Potter was sticking to his silence, even with his two best friends and the occasional visit from admirers he didn't need to speak to communicate his anger. Anytime Draco accidentally caught the mans eye a glare was sent his way that left him squirming uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't sure why, it wasn't as though him and Potter were a thing, that kiss had definitely been an accident but perhaps the other objected to him kissing someone else so soon after. That was the only truly logical explanation for the rage that was being directed towards him, he refused to believe that Potter was angry because the kiss had actually meant something to him. Blinking slowly he tore his thoughts away from kissing Potter, looking over to Blaise and giving his friend just a hint of a smile. They hadn't spoke much, it was awkward to do so with three sets of eyes on them but what little communication they had had was...sweet. He'd been about to speak when once again the clearing of a throat interrupted him.

"We're here." It was Hermione speaking, yet again, standing almost the moment the train came to a halt. He was almost positive the train had taken a different root because they certainly had arrived extraordinarily fast, not that he was complaining. Now that they weren't far from the castle and the feast that would undoubtedly be awaiting them he was painfully reminded of he fact he hadn't eaten at all that day, having missed breakfast and having been intimidated entirely by the glare of the food trolley witch who apparently didn't extend her kindness to death eaters. Or ex-death eaters as he should really say.

"Is Draco allowed to leave your sight for the ten-minute coach journey to the castle or do you think he'll somehow break Hogwarts' anti-apparation wards in that time?" Blaise sneered, looking Harry directly in the eye as all six of them shrugged their robes on over the clothes they already war.

"It would be quite a relief if Draco buggered off with you actually." Now that was unexpected. Draco hadn't thought Potter would respond, given how pointedly quiet he'd been up until that point, however, if Blaise was shocked he hid it well, taking Draco's arm and giving the dark haired man a smirk over his shoulder.

"Alas Potter, the 'buggering' will have to be saved for later, not all of us...jump the gun shall we say." He replied, quick as a flash, pulling Draco out the compartment and off the train. It was a very good job that, even in the wizarding world, looks couldn't kill otherwise both of them would have been dead and buried. Shaking his head and turning his attention to more important matters Draco followed Blaise into one of the threstral drawn coaches. It was strange to be seeing them for the first time, not many people had been able to before the war but now most were looking at the dark creatures with looks of awe tinged with sadness. The threstrals didn't seem all that fussed by the tense atmosphere, revelling in the attention they were receiving. Draco would eat the sorting hat if that stupid oaf of a Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Hagrid, didn't use them in at least one lesson that year.

"Blaise." He said softly as their coach began to move, no one else had dared to get in with them and so he felt more than comfortable asking the man where they stood. "Um, well, what was that to you?"

"A kiss," Blaise replied bluntly, teasing Draco. He laughed softly when he saw how much his answer frustrated the other man, reaching a hand to stroke a stray piece of Draco's blonde hair behind his ear. "Don't get your panties in a twist, I'm teasing. Truth be told it was a bit of fun, I haven't got laid since well before the war and you're still just as fucking fit as always, and apparently much more fluid in your sexuality too so, if you don't mind I'd like to propose that we continue just having fun." Draco visibly relaxed upon hearing Blaise's answer, fun was something he could handle, something he needed, a relationship at this point in time would be too bloody complicated. Especially given his lack of experience with males.

"Your proposal is accepted." He answered softly, giving Blaise a slightly nervous smile as he sat back in his seat. If the other noticed his nerves he didn't comment, following Draco's example by reclining also, the pair of them lulled into a sense of relaxation by the slow bumping motion of the carriage. Judging from the stares they'd been subjected to whilst getting off of the train the journey to the castle was going to be their last true chance to relax for at least a couple of days. The thought of being of sharing a common room with everyone from their year, even with the protection he would earn from having Potter as his roommate intimidated Draco, to say the least. Where Draco's behaviour was being oh so carefully monitored the behaviour of his old classmates was not and so they could probably get away with 'accidentally' using the most creative curses they knew of on him. Actually, sod the probably, they would get away with it. He bit his lip slightly, sighing in a way that made Blaise look towards him.

"You know, whatever they do to us it can't be worse than what he did." Truer words had never been spoken but, for some reason, Draco found no comfort in them, simply nodding curtly before stepping out of the carriage. The inpatient whinny of the thestral had alerted him to the fact that they'd arrived at the castle that, despite the war that had been waged not even a year prior still looked just the same. He laughed slightly to himself as he realised how naive he'd been to expect it to have fallen into ruin or be under reconstruction, sometimes even he forgot just how powerful magic was.

"Malfoy!" A distant voice broke his train of thought, causing him to sigh deeply and turn around. Potter was at least speaking again but Draco wasn't sure he wanted to hear what the man had to say. He stood still, waiting for Potter to catch up.

"You have to walk into the castle with me." He spoke in a tone that suggested he did not want to be argued with, standing close so there was only a metre between them. Draco's blood prickled but he couldn't very well argue back. It would look dodgy to anyone if, after promising to keep an eye on Malfoy, Potter didn't actually stick to his word.

"Fine." He sighed, giving Blaise somewhat of an apologetic look, something the man simply shrugged at, before stalking off ahead. Something twinged in Draco's stomach, something he swallowed down as he adjusted the pace of his steps so he could remain alongside the golden trio. They were taking their sweet time, perhaps attempting to guarantee a dramatic entry but Draco bit his tongue, holding back any sly comments. The last thing he wanted was to make the trio angry when there were no professors around to hold them back although he doubted whether or not any of the professors would want to defend him and, even if they wanted to they probably wouldn't do so for risk of being judged by the other staff members. This year was definitely going to be fun. He swallowed, trying to block that thought out as he focused on walking, blocking out the conversation the other three were engaged in and thanking Merlin when they reached the castle only a few steps behind everyone else. "No grand entrance for you then Potter." He sneered quietly, finally daring to speak up.

"I swear to Merlin Malfo-" Ron began, raising his wand almost immediately and going a shade of red that clashed hideously with his orange hair. Although the Weasley girls hair had become more tolerable as she aged Ronald's was still alarmingly...Chudley Canons. It didn't suit him.

"Ronald Weasley you lower that wand immediately." A very stern female voice spoke up suddenly, causing the handful of returning students that were standing outside of the entrance hall to jump. McGonagall did have a knack for sneaking up on people, Draco had to give her that although he half suspected that the fact she was an animagus had something to do with this ability. Ron only seemed to get redder.

"B-but." He began, only to be shot a rather reproachful glare as McGonagall pushed through the crowd, standing before the doors that lead into the great hall. Many of the students looked uneasy, undoubtedly remembering the last time they'd stood in this doorway when the hall was filled with bodies and the injured, not food and new first years.

"But nothing Weasley." She said sharply, turning to face them all. "Now if you're quite finished with your little outburst I would like to explain a couple new rules to all of you returning NEWT students. Firstly, the forbidden forest is out of bounds just as it always has been unless of course you are accompanied by a professor and are carrying out a task that relates back to your NEWTs. Secondly, all of you will be sharing one tower, one table in the hall and all lessons will be integrated. Although all of you have been sorted you are technically no longer members of those houses and so you cannot be awarded points nor can you lose your old house any." A couple of students seemed disappointed at this but Draco simply rolled his eyes, how anyone could be loyal to the houses after everything they'd been through was beyond him, the segregation the tradition enforced was nothing but problematic. . "Now thirdly professors will still be able to give you detentions but, due to the fact all of you are of age, the punishments will be more practical than writing lines. If you misbehave you will either be tasked with helping to restore one of the many rooms in this castle that aren't working quite right or enlisted to help the younger years with their homework or their lessons." For a moment it seemed as though she was done but then she looked over the top of her glasses, cheeks flushed the palest shade of red and lip pursed. "And finally despite the fact all of you are of age and many are in...committed relationships, rules regarding relationships between students at Hogwarts remain unchanged. You are asked to conduct yourself in professional manners at all time and you will find wards in place in your new bedrooms that prevent students of different sexes...integrating." She looked thoroughly embarrassed and she wasn't the only one, there was something incredibly disconcerting about McGonagall discussing student 'integration'. "Now anyone, we have a feast to get to."

"Finally." A voice that sounded awfully like Ron's muttered as the stern woman pushed open the giant doors and walked briskly through them. The eighth year table was blatantly obvious, being smack bang in the middle of the hall and the only table empty but she walked them to it anyway, head held high. At times like this Draco wished he had the courage and bravery of a Gryffindor, it was proving very hard to ignore the feeling of glaring eyes following him as he walked briskly to the table and the whispers that began once he sat beside Potter only deepened his desire to simply sink into the ground and disappear.

"Bet you don't feel so big now hey Malfoy?" The Weasley singsonged, a smirk on his face as he began to pile his plate high with food in a way that made Draco's stomach churn a little bit. Facing the dementors at Azkaban would be easier than watching Ron eat he decided as he sat up straighter and served himself a small portion of steak pie and vegetables. He had never been one for gorging himself and he certainly wasn't going to start now, although Mrs Weasley had protested fiercely that he ought to gain weight he liked his slim figure. Besides, eating less of the main course meant there was more room for pudding. "Snake got your tongue?" The redhead probed, not content with Draco's lack of response.

"Ron? Do us all a favour yeah and shut up. It's not like he can just walk away, he has to sit with me and stick around us and it's going to be a bloody long year if you're at his throat all the time. Can we just all try and be civil?" Draco didn't even need to think of a witty comeback, Potter was coming to his defence. He didn't even attempt to hide his shock, gawping at the man who'd been pointedly ignoring him since the previous night and nearly dropping the gravy boat that he was holding in his hand. Ron looked just as shocked, mouth opening and closing a couple of times before he finally seemed to accept that there was no point in arguing.

"Fine." He muttered before tucking into his mountain of food, looking so miserable Draco nearly laughed out loud but he stopped himself in favour of eating also.

There really was no denying that he'd missed the food of Hogwarts quite terribly.


	9. Chapter Nine

The feast, just like the train journey, passed by far quicker than Draco had anticipated. It was was over within the blink of an eye but, just as he hadn't complained about the time elapsed on the train (or lack of) he wasn't going to complain about the feast either. The less time he spent in the great hall with eyes on his back and images of the dead in his mind the better quite frankly. Although the hall was repaired to the point where an outsider wouldn't think anything happened the memories it carried had not been wiped away. He could still see the rubble in the corner of his eye and this, combined with the constant feeling of being watched was putting him very much on edge. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate on the food before him, longing to enjoy his first peaceful Hogwarts meal since the fifth year, he couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling. Eventually, he gave up, huffing as he pushed away his half full bowl of toffee pudding and straightened up, trying to remind himself that he was above the judgment of all of these students. It wasn't very convincing anymore, he knew there were people in this hall who had fought until they couldn't do so any longer whereas he, he hadn't even tried to fight He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the git had lived in his house for the best part of two years. He'd had ample chances and, not only did everyone know it, everyone seemed hell bent on reminding him. They didn't even need to speak to do so, the silent judgement was much more effective.

"Why aren't you finishing that?" Potter spoke, tone laced with a level of concern that made Draco frown, looking at him incredulously.

"You care?" He asked, eyebrow-raising slowly. Potter blushed a deep shade of crimson, shaking his head.

"Not at all. I just respect that the house elves put a lot of work into these meals," Potter muttered, blushing even darker when Draco raised a curious eyebrow and sitting up stiffly. "The house elves of Hogwarts helped us to win the battle and, if Dobby hadn't all but sacrificed himself I wouldn't have lived to actually face Voldemort. " His reply was much more haughty this time, laced with overwhelming self-righteousness that Draco only just managed to ignore. Potter's words had caught his attention and he couldn't bring himself to sneer over the man's tone.

"Dobby died?" He asked, shocked. He'd thought the elf had escaped the manor house unscathed, it certainly looked as though he'd apparated away from his aunt's blade in time and the news that the elf hadn't been so lucky humbled him somewhat. It would have been hard for him to forget his old servant after the rage his father had been in after the elf's portrayal. He'd found the whole ordeal rather comical, not that he'd told Lucius that. Apparently, in the pureblood circles of society, the loss of a house elf was quite a big deal and would lead to much judgment for reasons Draco hadn't cared to try to understand. All he knew was that he'd liked the elf and admired his...quirks, although again that was something he'd never voice out loud. Now it was Potter's turn to look incredulous.

"You care?" He mimicked Draco's shock but Draco refused to rise to this provocation, nodding stiffly and pushing his spoon around his bowl.

"Dobby kept me company most of my childhood actually and was quite kind to me whenever my father got into one of his rages." He answered, silently daring Potter to make fun of him but the ridicule never came. The look on the man's face was unreadable, somewhere between curiosity and...fondness? For a moment Draco was puzzled as to why Potter looked so content but then he remembered that Dobby had been the one to rescue the trio from his manor, much to his aunt's outrage. Potter was probably thinking of this, he thought it best not to disturb him, managing a few more mouthfuls of pudding now he was distracted enough to not notice the eyes on his back. It was Hermione who broke the silence next, having finished up her own food.

"Hey, maybe you can join S.P.E.W?" Draco narrowed his eyes, thinking the girl was mocking him but Ron soon interjected, shaking his head.

"Don't worry." He muttered, in a tone, Draco presumed was as close to civil as he was going to get. "She's not making fun, Spew is her elf rights thing."

"It's pronounced S-P-E-W, not Spew." Hermione corrected hastily, looking up at Draco with a small sort of smile. "I started it when I found out that the elves make all our meals you see, it's disgusting that we don't pay them for preparing feasts like this and cleaning up after us. Dobby was very supportive of it, he was the only one of them demanding to be paid, I suspect the rest of them were too frightened of being judged, Dobby was by far the most vocal of them all. I haven't had the time to do any campaigns or anything what with the war and they hardly got any recognition for everything they did to help." Draco wasn't really listening to what she was saying, simply admiring how fast she was saying it and how she seemed able to speak without breathing. Her passion for elf rights was clear but Draco couldn't bring himself to be supportive of a movement called SPEW, no one would pay attention to the fact each letter was supposed to be spoken separately and he didn't fancy being subjected to even more stares.

"Erm, it's nice of you to offer but I don't have time for anything extracurricular if I want to do well in my NEWTs. I don't want to let you down by not being able to be fully supportive." Hermione had finally stopped speaking, looking at him expectantly for a reply which he gave without so much of a blink of his eyes, lying easily in a way that appeared to have her convinced. Both Weasley and Potter narrowed their eyes when Hermione was so easily deterred, scowling down at their plates. Their annoyance led Draco to assume that she'd forced them both into joining and he'd be lying if he said the image of Potter wearing a SPEW badge didn't make him chuckle. Ron turned to Hermione, probably about to try his luck leaving the movement but before he could speak McGonagall's magnified voice filled the hall, silencing everyone.

"Good evening everybody and welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I trust that you have all enjoyed your food?" What was left of the feast promptly vanished, to the visible disappointment of a few first years. "You will find that despite the events of the previous year the castle itself has changed very little in terms of layout and so all your classes will be in the same places they were prior to the war. The only difference to the castle is the eighth year tower but that is not a change that anyone other than the eighth years will get to experience due to the wards I have personally set up to prevent any...mingling after curfew." A few people visibly shuddered as McGonagall paused to survey the hall with a reproachful look on her face. "Now all the usual school rules apply, the forbidden forest is, as its name suggests, forbidden to anyone, Mr Filch has once again prepared an extensive list of banned items that can be viewed in full on his office door and the Room of Requirement, due to heavy spell damage is also forbidden unless you want to die a rather painful death." Malfoy felt his blood run cold as he remembered exactly how the room came to be so damaged, from the look on Potter's face he remembered also and he had to fight from scowling. He would have preferred the man to have forgotten the first time he'd saved his life. "Now I haven't been able to assign each house their prefects or name the head boy and girl as of yet but the students I have selected will be getting an owl with the morning post tomorrow." Hermione visibly perked up at that, clearly, she was wondering whether or not eighth years would be able to take those positions."Now, your head of houses will escort you to your dorms and give out the password you will require to enter. Eighth years Filch will show you the way. Good night." She nodded curtly before turning her back on the hall.

"Come on, we best be quick, I don't think Filch will wait for us," Hermione muttered, snapping herself out of the daydream she'd been in. Draco suspected it was probably centred around a shiny head girls badge. Nevertheless, he did as he was told, standing up and walking a few steps behind the trio. A couple of first years were giggling dramatically, pointing and whispering behind their hands about something that clearly concerned Harry and, from the snippets he was picking up a Hippogriff tattoo. The mental image did funny things to his stomach for reasons he really didn't want to think about and he had to focus very hard on the back of Filch's warty, balding head to calm himself down. If Potter had a tattoo, whether it was a hippogriff or something a little more manly, he was done for. Well, that would be if Potter ever let him see it....Which was admittedly very unlikely but then again stranger things had happened. Potter defending his innocence to the entire Wizengamot and offering to keep a personal eye on him for example.

"Am I allowed to join you again?" He jumped slightly as Blaise suddenly appeared at his side, grinning softly at the dark haired man who seemed very keen to spend time with him.

"Well, normally I'd say you have to consult one of those three." He pointed half-heartedly towards the backs of the golden trio. "But it seems like they're in the middle of a conversation. How was dinner?" Blaise snorted.

"Dinner was fine Draco." He mocked the others attempt at small talk. "Aside from getting stuck next to that Lovegood girl, I don't hold anything against her really but my word she could talk for England." He laughed slightly and even as Luna's friend Draco couldn't help but nod his agreement. Once the girl was started on a topic that interested her it really was very hard to get her to shut up, even if it was a life or death type of situation, he'd quickly learnt during her stay at the Manor that if he was to ensure her survival it was best to heal her without even announcing his presence. "But anyway," he interrupted Draco's train of thought abruptly, "that's enough about dinner. I have a proposition for you." Blaise placed particular emphasis on the word 'proposition', a smirk spreading across his face.

"And what would that be?" To say he wasn't curious would have been a massive lie.

"Well, you see. I've heard from a reliable source that the one room in the entire eighth-year tower that doesn't have anti-shagging wards cast on it is yours and Potter's. Apparently, the teachers thought it..unlikely that you and Potter would ever even think of getting close enough to necessitate them." He paused for effect but Draco remained confused, raising an eyebrow to indicate this. "If your room doesn't have wards, which again I highly suspect it doesn't, I am of the opinion that you ought to ditch Potter at the earliest convenience and we can...take advantage of such a blessed situation." And now Draco understood entirely, mouth turning up into a smirk that matched Blaise's. This seemed almost too good to be true.

"Well...I like your proposition, I have to say, but I can't help but is there any way for us to test for certain whether or not there are wards in place?" He asked softly, knowing fine well that the wards usually left offenders with a nasty, itchy rash and he really didn't want people to have more reason to ridicule him. The crowd in front of them stopped walking, presumably due to the fact they'd reached the tower and, he became very aware of the fact that he had no idea where in the castle they actually were. Thankfully he had to remain in the shadow of the golden trio as they had clearly paid attention to wherever Filch was leading them, it would be incredibly embarrassing for him to get lost as a returning student. In his confusion, he didn't notice the way Blaise's smirk had grown.

"Why don't you try and kiss Potter? That would do it." Draco's eyes widened considerably, looking at Blaise in shock that he didn't even have to try to fake. Yeah...ok, maybe he had already kissed Potter but apparently, everyone else thought them getting intimate was so unlikely they hadn't even bothered to try and protect against it. Why would Blaise suggest that? Maybe he knew what had happened the previous night?

"Blaise he'd hex me into next year if I tried that. Plus, if there are wards, I'll have all his bloody followers on my back for sexually assaulting him or something." Draco rolled his eyes at the absurd suggestion once he'd recovered from how casually Blaise had spoken, it took a moment to convince himself that Blaise didn't actually know what had happened the night before and he was just being incredibly paranoid.

"But what if he didn't? He's gay, isn't he? There must be some reason he got you off all of your charges. Maybe he's harbouring a little crush." Draco felt himself pale, shaking his head quickly. It would not do to be thinking such things, not when Potter's consistent presence in his life was already doing funny things to his head, his stomach and his dreams.

"I think that revelation would probably be worse than getting hexed." He sneered causing Blaise to chuckle softly.

"Ok well, in that case, we'll just work under the assumption that there are no wards until proven otherwise. Owl me as soon as Potter decides he can leave you alone for a while." The dark haired boy said softly, pressing a lingering kiss to Draco's cheek that no one appeared to notice before disappearing into the throng of people in front of them. Draco's stomach did a flip and he couldn't help but roll his eyes at himself. In the month or so since he'd realised that he had an interest in men, he had become quite desperate for even the slightest measure of intimacy. It was quite pathetic actually, now that he thought about it. Trying not to sneer too hard at himself Draco entered the portrait hole, completely disregarding Filch's utterance of the password. He had more trust for merpeople than he did for the squib caretaker and so he would simply get the password from a more reliable source.

"Potter, where is our room." He strode towards the black haired man, ignoring the glares of people he used to consider classmates or acquaintances. Sure, he'd been a little shit throughout school but for the most part, he'd remained more popular than Potter. It made him smile to remember how easy it had been to turn everyone against the saviour in fourth year with the 'Potter stinks' badges if he tried something like that he'd be arrested for treason or something.

"Are you incapable of reading?" The man replied in a tone that most Slytherins would be impressed by. However, as the tone was directed at him Draco was far from impressed, narrowing his eyes and stepping forward again, attempting to push Potter out of the way to view the room list and failing miserably. For a moment he'd forgotten how much muscle the other appeared to have gained over the past couple of years, evidentially running about the country to destroy Horcruxes and become the wizarding world's hero had done the other some good. As attractive as he usually would have found this right now it was nothing but an inconvenience.

"Yes thank you and I'd be able to do so if you weren't in the way, as usual." He said dryly, not about to make a fool of himself (or make any enemies) by once again using force in an attempt to move the-boy-who-lived. For a moment Potter was completely still, seemingly considering something but after a second or so he snapped out of it.

"We're at the very top of the tower." He muttered before turning on his heel, heading in the direction of the stairs. Draco followed close behind, not wanting to risk being alone in a room full of people that hated him entirely and also quite curious to see if their rooms would be any different. The common room had been devoid of any of the house colours, decorated in rather pleasant shades of lavender and purple oddly enough. It made sense to choose a colour that couldn't link back to any of the houses instead of trying to work all four colour schemes into one room but it would perhaps be easier to make the Gryffindor and Slytherin colours work together. However, knowing how everything seemed to favour Potter, he wouldn't be surprised if he had to put up with a whole room of red and gold. Trying not to actually grumble out loud at the thought of that he set his mind to the inordinate amount of stairs they had to climb until they reached their room, at least in the dungeons everything had pretty much been on the same level due to the size of the place.

"After you." He muttered, somewhat sarcastically as Harry eventually came to a halt. They really were right at the top of the tower with their doorway making up the final step of the dratted flight of stairs. Harry made a crude gesture before opening the door and stepping into the circle-shaped room. There was a window on each side, one overlooking the quidditch pitch and one giving an excellent view of the courtyard but that wasn't the first thing Draco noticed. As a pureblood, he'd grown up to appreciate good decor and whoever had done this room out certainly had brilliant taste. The walls were covered in striped paper, pairing together the dark red of the Gryffindor house and the silver of the Slytherin house. The floor was the same exposed stone as the staircase but a large burgundy rug occupied most of the space, adding some warmth. At each side of the room two dark wood desks appeared to be built into the panes of the large stone windows, flanked by wardrobes made of the same wood, each desk had a chair tucked against it the only difference being that one had a silver cushion, the other with deep red. There was a dark wood door next to the door they were standing in which Draco presumed led to their own concealed bathroom. The main feature of the room was the two four poster beds that occupied most of the space, one with silver sheets and the other with red. It was quite an attractive colour scheme, Draco couldn't even bring himself to fake displeasure.

"Well, I'm guessing the red side is mine." Harry mused out loud, walking over to check the trunk at the foot of the bed and frowning slightly when he realised it wasn't actually his trunk. "Actually, this one appears to be yours?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Well obviously we're going to have to switch our trunks around, I'm not sleeping in your house colours." He muttered, attempting to levitate his belongings and frowning when absolutely nothing happened. "Why is my trunk spelled down on this side?" Draco whirled round to face Potter, narrowing his eyes as the boy put his hands up into a surrender position but, before Draco could even begin to accuse the other of placing some sort of sticking charm on his drunk a crack sounded through the room and a house elf appeared.

"Mistress McGonagall is telling misters Harry Potter and M-Malfoy that t-they are to stay in their own beds." The elfs message would have been reprimanding had her voice not been so high pitched.

"Winky? Is that you?" And trust Potter to know the elf by name. Before he could begin having a catch up with the elf who had nodded rather sheepishly Draco spoke up.

"Will the wards stop us?" He asked, his tone far from harsh. It still made the elf flinch, not that Draco could blame her, he knew that once freed Dobby had not spoken too highly of his father.

"N-no this room isn't having any wards mister b-but McGonagall is wanting to make sure that you is keeping the beds you is given. Just in case." She finished, giving what Draco believed she thought to be a threatening look before promptly disappearing. At least Blaise's question about wards was answered but Draco was rather confused as to why he'd been given the bed with the red sheets. Perhaps it was some ridiculous message about house unity. To his delight Potter looked just as baffled but he didn't say anything, simply shrugging in the absence of the elf and moving to sit on top of his silver bedsheets. They were silent for a moment and Draco couldn't help but feel smug that Potter at least had the gratiousness to be humble after his actions the night before.

"Draco...about the other n-" The dark haired boy began to speak after a couple of minutes, breaking the silence that had become almost eery. Despite being at the top of a tower they could hear no wind or sounds from the room below leading Draco to belief the rooms had selective silencing charms on them to facilitate their studies.

"Don't want to talk about it." He drawled, shrugging his shoulders. "Things are...awkward enough without having to discusss an almost kiss." It had been a kiss, a full kiss, but due to his lack of response he refused to call it such. Potter sighed heavily.

"Yeah well, I owe you an apology regardless." He spoke, despite the groan Draco led out "You did tell me you were straight and stuff so I shouldn't have done it...although obviously you lied but whatever" His tone grew gradually more accusing without being harsh, eyebrows raised slightly. He was clearly annoyed but Draco didn't really care, it wasn't as though he'd actually told a lie at the time he had considered himself straight. Wanking over boys was a recent occurrence.

"Potter my sexuality happens to be none of your business." He drawled, laying back on the soft sheets with a sigh and trying his hardest to bite his tongue. Curiosity was radiating off the other man and it was rather irratating.

"But its Blaise's business?" Again Draco's part troll theory was coming into play. He turned his head so he could face Harry, fixing his face into what he knew to be his best expression of disgust and loathing before speaking.

"Of course it's Blaise's business if I'm going to start fucking shagging him." He said dryly, shaking his head. Potter had the sense to look suitbaly chastened and, for another moment the room was sielnce. Again it was the dark haired man that broke it.

"You can't do any shagging if I'm not allowed to leave your side" He asked, smirking, clearly thinking that he'd one upped Draco. For a moment Draco thought he had but then he sat up, grinning slyly.

"Who says I'm against shagging people in front of you if you dont give me privacy?" He drawled, watching the blush that spread over the others skin. That had worked. It was quite a heavy statement, weighing heavy in the air between them and doing something to his stomach that he didn't quite understand but he had won and that was all that mattered.

"Don't even try it. I'll project the memories of all the times I've walked in on mione and Ron if you consider it." At that Draco blanched, not even needing to fake gagging at that mental image. There were some things that no one should have to witness and a naked Ron Weasley was one of those things.

"You're just jealous because I could shag somebody." He muttered under his breath, well aware of how childish of a response it was. Potter snorted in retaliation, falling quiet for a moment as if what Draco had said wasn't even worth acknowledging before speaking slowly.

"I'm the fucking chosen one Draco, getting laid isn't a problem" He snorted. Draco opened his mouth a couple of times before biting his lip, he'd overlooked that in his determination to one up the man in an argument. Harry could really have anyone he wanted, people threw themselves at him after all, a fact that had stung Draco ever since first year.

"Not my fault I took you for a virgin." He snapped.

"So you were thinking about my sex life then?"

"Only to pity you for not having one, Potter."

"Are you thick?" Potter actually burst out into laughter, guffawing laughter that was slightly contagious but so undignified. If Draco had ever laughed like that around his parents it would have lost him his surname. He raised an eyebrow slowly, not actually getting what the man was getting at. "I'm far from a virgin you absolute moron, how the hell do you think the Prophet found out that me and Ginny separated and that I was gay? It was quite the scandal. From what I can tell you're the inexperienced one, unless you actually stuck it in Pansy?." Spending 6 months in the Ministry holding cell really had caused Draco to miss out on a lot, he would have taken great pleasure is seeing everything The Prophet and Witch Weekly had to say about Harry's companions.

"I assumed you'd done an interview, you always did seem to enjoy them." He managed to sneer after getting over his initial shock. "And I'll have you know that Pansy was never a partner of mine but, had she been, she would have counted for more than any of your sleazy one night stands. Pansy is a good person." She'd been his friend since they were infants, the only person to know what it was like to grow up surrounded by tales of the dark lord and the adventures of the death eaters. Sure, they'd lost touch slightly but war does that people and she had lost Nott after all, he wanted to allow her to grieve.

"Really? Because she was all for giving me away to fucking Voldemort." Harry said coldly and Draco nearly hexed him where he stood.

"She was scared, Potter. Just because you were used to running head first at danger doesn't mean the rest of us were. She was torn between wanting to do the right thing and not wanting to be stuck fighting a family member, a friend, someone she cared for because funnily enough death eaters still had families, still had lives away from the dark lord, however shitty." He snapped out, shaking his head and turning his back on Harry. "We were all too young to fight."

"I've been fighting this since I was 11, if I could manage she could too." Harry quipped, somewhat childishly but Draco was it taking this lightly.

"You had fucking Dumbledore, the only wizard the Dark Lord was ever afraid of, by your side for most of that time. We were alone. She'd never experienced anything like it, never had to face up to what the Dark Lord was or could do, she isn't worth less because she was afraid."

"Stop calling him the Dark Lord, it makes you sound like one of them."

"In case you hadn't noticed Potter, I was one of them. So if you speak ill of Pansy you speak ill of me and, as I know where you sleep, I would advise against that."

"Y'know I could go straight to the ministry with the memory of you saying that and get you out in Azkaban, right?" Draco felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over him at the mans oh so causal mention of the wizard prison. He inhaled sharply, turning back to face Harry with the best look of disgust he could manage plastered on his face.

"So you got me cleared of all charges so you could dangle my freedom over my head and make me afraid to disagree with you?" He said cooly. "For the saviour of the magical world Potter, you're an absolute git." Quickly, so as to hide the way his shoulders were starting to shake Draco sat himself on his bed, waving his wand so the curtains drew around him and casting a silencing charm so he could let out his sob of frustration.

Why had Potter got them stuck with each other?


	10. Chapter Ten

Despite spending most of his life apologising for his actions and their impact on others (even though most found these apologies worthless as they accepted the risk entirely) Potter was shit at saying sorry when he actually needed to. For the rest of the first week, he tip-toed around Draco as much as he was physically able to given that they shared a room and were forced to occupy the same space as each other. The only relief Draco really got from the man was the one hour a night Potter elected to spend either in McGonagall's office, presumably talking to Dumbledore's portrait, or in the common room with Granger and Weasley. At first, Draco was surprised to have been entrusted with the luxury of some alone time but it soon grew tiresome especially as, with all the tiptoeing, no one was actually speaking to him. Granger had managed a few short sentences, the girl Weasley gave him a smile every so often in the corridor and Professors had to make an effort to communicate with him, however begrudgingly but that wasn't enough. He was used to being surrounded by friends, having people he could trust around him at all times and actually being able to crack jokes now and then and, although he knew it was unlikely he would ever get that back he wasn't enjoying this complete silence. It was starting to drive him slightly mad. Blaise was around but he always seemed to be a few too many steps ahead and just out of earshot, meaning Draco didn't even have him as an outlet. He knew things could be so much worse but fuck was he bored.

"What are you looking so glum for?" A sneer from Weasley snapped him out of his self-pity, bringing him back to the reality that was the slightly crowded common room and his potions essay. He had tried to go up the room to work on it in silence but Potter had given him a glare that suggested that wouldn't be allowed so now he was forced to put up with the circus around him. Who could blame him for zoning out?

"You care?" He sneered right back, casting another spell on his quill to fill it with ink and turning his attention back to writing. Maybe he shouldn't have been so snappy, he did want conversation after all but in his defence, Weasley had started it.

"Not particularly just it makes tolerating your ugly mug even harder." The ginger muttered, ignoring the slight elbow that Hermione gave him, looking up from the essay she was working on briefly. She looked like she was about to say something, eyebrows drawn together in a way that suggested she might actually be about to scold her boyfriend in Draco's defence but then she got distracted, a rather confused look spreading over her face as a tiny parchment eagle flew down the staircase, perching itself on Draco's wrist.

"That's a beautiful piece of magic." She nodded her approval before turning back to the essay, whatever it was she'd been about to say forgotten. Draco was forced to agree, reaching out a finger to stroke the paper bird and smile as it bit him in what he assumed to be an affectionate manner. It truly was beautiful magic. He was about to ask whether or not it carried a message when it began to unfold itself, becoming less and less bird-like until all of a sudden all that was left of it was the parchment, exposing a note written in elegant cursive. Blaise's handwriting for sure. Draco took two seconds to read the note over before folding his essay away, shoving it into his bag abruptly before running up the stairs to his shared dorm where, sure enough, Blaise was waiting for him.

"How did you get in? Aren't the doors warded?" Blaise shook his head.

"Not when Potter forgets to shut the door properly, room can't tell he's not here anymore." He shrugged. To Draco it made sense, maybe one of the socks Potter always had laying about had caught in the door or maybe the 'chosen one' just didn't think his security to be a risk anymore.

"Not that I didn't appreciate the artistry but why send such a complicated note just to get me to come up to my own room?" He asked, causing Blaise to tut slightly and shake his head.

"And you call yourself intelligent." He scoffed, meeting Draco's eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" Now an idea was beginning to form in Draco's head but he played dumb, shaking his head slowly. Blaise rolled his eyes rather dramatically, stepping closer and closer until their shoes were touching, less than an inch between them, solidifying what Draco had anticipated. "Are you sure?" Blaise asked. A loaded question. A challenge that lingered in the air between them, unanswered, until Draco finally found his voice again.

"Yes." Came his calm reply. You didn't have to be a Gryffindor to be brave he thought to himself, the scarlet colour of his bed sheets occupying the corner of his eye as he tried to meet Blaise's intense gaze, not wanting to break eye contact first. He wasn't one to back down from a challenge and Blaise knew that just as well as he did. The smirk playing on Blaise's lips grew wider but Draco tried to pay it no attention, tentatively moving his hands to rest on the man's shoulders, prompting Blaise to grip him by the waist.

"Well, we'll have to change that then." The sultry whisper carried much less weight as Blaise didn't allow it to linger in the air for any length of time, closing the small gap between them by joining their lips together abruptly. Draco was grateful for that and even more grateful for the way Blaise held him as they kissed, it sent a spark of electricity up his spine and had him leaning in for more, kissing back with some ferocity. They stood like this for what felt like a few moments but was long enough for Draco to lose his breath, pulling back to inhale sharply while Blaise's smirk returned. "To the bed?" He whispered, stroking a strand of hair behind Draco's ear and pulling Draco to the bed with the silver sheets. Harry's bed. Blaise obviously assumed, just as he had, that the two boys slept in the beds coinciding with their old houses and Draco didn't care to break the mood by explaining otherwise, simply going along with it. To his relief, no house elf popped up to tell them off as they laid out on the chosen one's covers, Draco slightly on top of Blaise with the others strong arms wrapped around his waist. It was the stuff of dreams, quite literally, made better by the fact Draco had spent so long alone. The human contact itself could have sent him over the edge had he not possessed such excellent self-control and had he not been so eager to impress the man beneath him.

"Blaise." He groaned softly as the man moved his leg slightly, pressing to his crotch in such a nonchalant manner it caused the flesh of his arms to raise into goosebumps. "Don't tease." He managed to reprimand, an attempt to command some control which caused Blaise to chuckle, hands moving down slightly, resting over Draco's arse for a second before manhandling him into a more suggestive position. Draco felt his cheeks heat to a furious red as he found himself suddenly straddling the other's waist. Blaise was solid beneath him, all hard lines and smooth skin, toned and muscular without any of the more familiar soft bits he'd grown accustomed to seeing on the few women he'd experienced at an intimate level. It was definitely a more appealing image.

"Why don't you show me what you're good for?" It was a command. A clear effort to prove a point. Draco wasn't the one in control in this situation, Blaise was and for some reason, Draco didn't complain. For most of his Hogwarts life, until 6th year which had brought about his downward spiral in terms of popularity, he had been in control, telling Crabbe and Goyle what to do, lording around in the Slytherin common room. Maybe it was time for him to relinquish some of that and let himself let go entirely.

"How?" He spoke, voice a near whisper. Although he had experienced men in his dreams he had never got anywhere close in real life. Blaise smirked for a second, clearly enjoying this moment of role reversal as he gently pushed Draco back. Draco followed the guide of his hands till he was between the man's legs, face close to his crotch where a distinct bulge was obvious.

"Use your mouth" His tone was playful as if it was so obvious and once again Draco found himself flushing, scolding his own naivety before nodding somewhat bashfully. With his fingers trembling in anticipation he undid the button of Blaise's school slacks, gaining confidence as he pushed them down first before moving the man's boxers away also. He did his best not to make eye contact as he found himself looking rather closely at a cock that wasn't his own, something that made his stomach jolt slightly. Living in dorms with other boys he'd seen his fair share but never like this, never so close. It was rather beautiful, however cliched that may have sounded. "Go ahead, It won't bite." The commanding tone was replaced with one that was almost caring as Blaise's hands worked their way into Draco's hair, gently guiding his lips until Draco was forced to swallow his nerves. He had a vague idea of what it felt to be on the receiving end, Pansy had occasionally granted him such a pleasure and so he did his best to mimic what he thought felt good, hoping to Merlin that Blaise didn't think him too terrible. The man seemed to appreciate the clumsy movements of his tongue and the slightly uneven pace at which he bobbed his head as the hands in his hair tightened. "Go on Draco, nice and slow like that." Draco let his eyes close, hollowing his cheeks and trying to steady himself. Malfoys don't do anything by half measures and he had to get this right. He timed the bobbing of his head, taking Blaise as deep as his throat would permit, one hand cupping the base of the mans cock to steady it slightly. It didn't take him long to set a rhythm, getting used to the slightly invasive feeling of flesh in his mouth. A long moan escaped Blaise's lips, one hand moving to stroke over Draco's cheek, a touch so gentle and erotic Draco nearly came right then. He lost track of time as he focused on making Blaise moan like that again, longing for more touches.

"Malfoy, what part of you have to stay near me don't you understand?" The door to the bedroom flew open and Potter's voice invaded Draco's ears. He would have jumped back just as quickly as Potter had entered had Blaise not decided that was the perfect moment to come down his throat. His eyes widened in a manner he presumed was comical as he worked to swallow the others load before pulling away, somewhat guiltily and turning to look at Potter. The man was the palest Draco had ever seen him. "On my bed?" He choked as Draco moved a hand to wipe a stray bead of cum from his lips, an action that caused Blaise to groan a little and made Potter noticeably uncomfortable. More so than he already was. "I'm just...yeah, I'm leaving. We'll....fuck we'll discuss this later." He muttered before scampering away, slamming the door shut.

"Could his timing get any better?" The blonde sighed heavily, turning back to Blaise who was smirking nonchalantly.

"You dirty fucker, you didn't say this was his bed." He muttered, tucking himself back into his boxers and pulling Draco closer. Their lips were joined in a kiss that was sweet compared to their first, gentle and non-suggestive. Potter had killed the mood after all. "I'd stay to help you out but I have a feeling Potter might want to have a word with you." Blaise spoke against Draco's lips causing the blonde to flush again, his erection had flagged after the interruption so he just shrugged. It wasn't that much of an issue.

"We'll be more careful next time." He agreed, standing up. Blaise fixed his shirt and his slacks before following Draco's example, pressing one more bruising kiss to his lips that was definitely appreciated before walking away. Blaise hadn't corrected his assumption that there would be a next time, something that made Draco rather proud of himself. The pride didn't stay very long, seconds after Blaise had left the room Potter came storming back in. His eyes, that had previously been full of regret as if he longed to unsee what he had seen were full of anger. All stormy and dark. It suited him. "Potter..." He began but he soon feel short of words, there wasn't really much he could say to justify him using the other man's bed. At least there was nothing he could say that Potter would approve of or believe.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" The other man snapped, cutting him off, obviously sensing that Draco was stalling somewhat. "I do you a fucking favour, agreeing to sacrifice my life and my peace so you can stay clear of Askaban and you repay me by deliberately violating the conditions the Ministry laid out and sucking some Slytherin off on my bed." It sounded worse out loud than it had in Draco's head.

"Well maybe if you and your fucking friends were a bit more accommodating of me being there I wouldn't be so desperate to get away from you." He sneered in response. He knew he was in the wrong but his father's voice was playing around in his head. Malfoys do not apologise. It was a phrase that had got him into trouble in the past and this occasion didn't seem to be any different.

"We're trying our hardest. It's quite the change you know?" Potter sighed. The anger was gone and his eyes calm once more. It was a shame really and Draco was almost tempted to wind him up again just to see some passion in them.

"Really, it's quite a change for you? Potter, I don't have anyone, not a single friend to speak to. The Professors despise me, you ignore me, Weas-I mean Ron doesn't speak unless to insult me and Hermione always has her head in a book. I don't think I've had a single conversation in the past week!" He protested, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "You can't deny that you're all making the minimum amount of effort and yet I still have to stick with you, I can't even be alone by myself." Potter's expression changed to one Draco couldn't quite read.

"I suppose you're right." He muttered, causing Draco to grin rather triumphantly, he hadn't been expecting the other to cave as easily.. "But that still doesn't make shit like this ok?" Draco rolled his eyes, giving Potter his best glare as he turned to sit on his own bed.

"Well, I'm very sorry." He said, in a tone as apologetic as he could physically muster. If it sounded mocking that wasn't his fault really. Potter shook his head, giving Draco a look that could have made even McGonagall nervous. "Ok, I'm actually sorry, that wasn't right of me. " He mumbled hands up in a surrender position. This seemed to appease Potter as he nodded and dropped the stern glare, gesturing towards the door.

"Come back downstairs, I'll talk to the others quickly and tell them to back off and chill out a bit." His tone was a lot softer now, much less accusing. Draco was about to protest, he really did want to finish that essay in the peace of his room, but he guessed any objection would piss the man off all over again. He wasn't exactly in the position to make demands. Grabbing his bag from the bed that actually belonged to him he followed behind the dark-haired man, more than prepared for another argument with the Weasley boy. 

To his surprise whatever Harry whispered to them as Draco got comfortable again seemed to work. Or at least it had some immediate effect. Ron stopped glaring holes into the back of his head, sitting closer to Hermione and turning to his own work, a sight that Draco considered nearly miraculous. Although he'd been forced to spend more than his fair share of time with the trio he was yet to see Ron do any work, Harry at least had pretended to look vaguely interested in his DADA essays. Draco shook his head at the thought of one of the defence professors actually daring to fail Potter, the press would have a field day, to say the least. He fought the urge to glance in the others direction, turning back to his length of parchment. The potion he'd been tasked with writing about was a complicated one, a fertility potion with a vast list of rare ingredients and a lot of potentially very dangerous consequences if brewed incorrectly. The other 8th years in the NEWTS class hadn't been given potions anywhere near as risky or advanced as his, something he was taking as a personal vendetta rather than an appreciation of his talent. He was confident that he could brew it, however, with having to constantly tail Potter he sure he'd managed to research it as fully as he would have been able to were it possible to lock himself in the library for a whole afternoon. 

"Potter." He eventually worked up the courage to speak, closing his textbook, frustrated by the rather basic descriptions of the ingredients it was providing him with. Although he was familiar with most thanks to his own library back at the manor there was a couple of properties he wasn't certain on and God forbid he fuck this up in any way. Where it would be impossible for Potter to fail he wasn't naive enough to believe that level of generosity, or any generosity at all, extended to him. "I need to get a book from the library or I'm going to fail this essay which will make it harder for me to pass this year which will mean you need to spend more time with me." He said cheerily, putting his parchment, quill and ink into his bag. "So, if you want to avoid that, I'd appreciate it greatly if you came to the library with me." For a second Potter looked ready to refuse, brow furrowing and Malfoy wouldn't have blamed him after what he walked in on but to his relief, the man started to pack his bag.

"Fine. It's a bit loud in here anyway." Draco nodded his agreement, sending a glare in the direction of the huddle of Gryffindor girls that were currently squealing and giggling like they were first years. 

"You're telling me" He muttered darkly, turning on his heal to leave the common room, Potter following behind him. The old Slytherin common room, although cold and far from homely, had at least been qujiet, students were a lot more appreciative of the work loads of others.

They were silent as they walked, pacing quite quickly through the corridors. A lot of Hogwarts had lost its homely feel, there were areas that no one liked to linger in as despite the great effort to restore the castle there was no scrubbing the walls clean of everyone's memories. Even the ghosts were subdued, the few that remained that is. Most had stopped clinging to the afterlife and allowed themselves to go to peace, hurt too by all the loss and death the castle had seen. 

"So Blaise then?" Potter finally broke their silence, five minutes away from the library. It was hard to fight back a groan, although he'd been expecting an interrogation of sorts he wasn't expecting it to occur so rapidly.

"It's just a bit of fun Potter." Draco sighed out, giving the slightly taller man his best glower, silently daring him to push further. So, of course, it was in fact pushed further. 

"Is that a good idea?" The other questioned, pointedly avoiding Draco's glower by looking down at the stone before him. "I mean, I can't exactly leave you alone can I and his family weren't the most reputable before or after the trials, it might put pressure on your situation."

"It's my situation though, Potter." Draco sighed, exasperated. "It's not like I'm going to spend all my time with him, holding his hand and acting like his lover, drawing attention to myself and giving the ministry a reason to suspect me of anything again. We're both in it for some fun and no one has to know about it."

"It won't work out like that." Potter shrugged his shoulders, causing Draco to roll his eyes and let outlet another loud sigh.

"Well if it all goes tits up you're more than welcome to say I told you so however, I'm not going to turn down a chance to have some fun when I've spent forever thinking of...:" He cut himself off, shaking his head and looking to the floor. "Just leave it, Potter."

"Thinking of what?" The man's voice was firm, curious, not that Draco had expected anything else. Shaking his head in response he picked up speed, walking so fast he was almost jogging. The librarian was highly unlikely to be accommodating of any whispered chatter if he had a part to play in it and so the library would very much form a safe haven from Potter's questioning. Plus the man was unlikely to bother him when he saw the sheer volume of the textbook Draco had his mind on, it would make more than an adequate weapon. "Hey, you're not getting out of this one!" Potter exclaimed, catching onto his plan sooner than Draco had expected. It appeared that a year on the run had taught the other to be a little more observant than he had been while in school. 

"For fucks sake Potter, what part of leave it don't you get?" Draco exclaimed as the other grabbed his wrist, preventing him from speeding up anymore. He met the others eyes, narrowing his into his best glare and hoping that that would act as some form of deterrent. Alas the other didn't give up, staring right back as though this was some kind of challenge. It was infuriating how smug he managed to look all the fucking time, Draco had a good mind to hex him into next week but he was not prepared to deal with cleaning up that situation. "Fine" He shouted exasperated, tearing his wrist away from Potter's grip and giving him the best glare he could physically muster. "I've spent a large portion of my life thinking about an intimate physical relationship with someone else and this is the first oppurtunity i've had to pursue one with someone who doesn't value me solely for my money and isn't just trying to get a glimpse of my dark mark." The tone he used was sickening, as sweet as he could physically muster without causing himself to be ill also. "Now can we please go to the library so I can get my fucking book." For once Potter didn't push anything. He nodded quietly, allowing Draco to turn on his heel and head straight for the potions section.

The rest of the evening was awkward to say the least. 

It would appear his outburst, that had amounted to a two-fold confession, informing Potter that he was a virgin and he was eager to lose this status, had been harder for Potter to stomach than the sight of him swallowing cum. They worked in silence, Draco studying a rather ancient volume, looking for something to give his essay the edge it needed to actually be recognised and Potter seeming content with his standard copy of Advanced Potions making. They'd only been in lessons for a week but Draco was already confident that, despite the substantial difference in the effort they each put in, he was going to struggle to beat the others scores. It was unfair but he could hardly complain, despite how much he wanted to. Being cleared by the Ministry did not mean the court of public opinion had forgiven him by any stretch of the imagination. He just had to make sure he didn't give the professors the chance to fail him. Luckily enough for him he'd always been somewhat of an academic and was dedicated enough to potions to be able to understand the incredibly dry book he was poring over. It took him around 2 hours but considering the length of the text he considered that a win, the parchment itself was now twice the length that had been asked for but, if you asked him it was the sort of standard potions masters would ask for when accepting applications for understudies. Despite this he could almost smell the E that it would be branded with. He almost regretted going so over the length that had been asked for, realising now it would probably work disadvantage him but with class first thing in the morning he couldn't really fix that. After casting drying and preserving spells, copying the parchment twice as an extra precuation, he rolled it up and stood, wanting to return the rather heavy book to its place.

"Where are you going?" Potter whispered, still managing to sound annoyed. Draco raised an eyebrow slowly, holding the book up as if it was obvious.

"Returning this, is that allowed?" He replied, rather indignantly before turning on his heel back towards the restricted section. It was lucky that access to the restricted section was standard for all NEWT students, he could bet that if it hadn't been his access would have been a lot more restricted than everyone elses. When he came back Potter had packed away and was looking rather expectant, tapping his foot.

"Its dinner time, pack up so we can go eat." He didn't bother whispering this time and Draco had to fight the urge to role his eyes, neatly placing everything in his bag before following the other who was practically running away at that point. He bit his tongue, simply following. It wouldn't do to be seen arguing with Potter in the corridors. If they were seen fighting with eachother it would take a matter of minutes for the rumour to spread that he was trying to do away with the other man and his plan to keep his head down would be truly fucked. Potter's earlier conversation with Ron and Hermione appeared forgotten, either that or they could sense what the dark haired lad was feeling because neither made any effort to make any conversation with Draco. He hadn't expected the words to have any lasting impact on Ron but he had expected better from Hermione. Nevertheless he made no complaint, piling his plate with food and eating slowly as the other three chatted. Potter at least seemed to cheer up being around his friends which gave Draco some hope that that night wouldn't be as awkward as the day had been. 

The journey back to the tower was as silent as dinnertime but again he made no complaint. He was somewhat distracted anyway, hyperaware of the weight of his parchment against his leg. It was an injustice that the effort he'd put in wouldn't be awarded but he couldn't complain, Potter wasn't in the mood to listen and anyone else would likely either think he was being a pompous pratt or bring up how favoured he was by Snape, calling it Karma. He was going to have to swallow his pride, as much as it hurt and just get on with it. At least the exams at the end of the year couldn't be biased, the enviligilators were incapable of being so due to a large amount of very complicated charms and a few unbreakable vows. The thought of someday proving himself was enough to calm him. 

"I'm going to shower." He muttered to Potter as they reached their room, putting his parchments on his desk carefully before summoning his towel, toiletries and nightclothes. Still in the habit of trekking to the Prefects bathroom whenever bathing was necessary he made to leave the room before remembering that was a privilege from a past life and turning in the opposite direction towards their small en suite.

"Draco?" Potter stopped him in his tracks. A sigh left his lips as he turned to face the other who, curiously enough was holding his own bathing things. "I'm going to the Prefects bathroom and I can't leave you here so you can come with." He said curtly, causing Draco to raise an eyebrow slowly. He wanted to question but didn't want to risk Potter changing his mind. There was nothing wrong with the bathroom that they shared but the Prefects one had always put him in such a calm state of mind

"Ok" He replied simply, following the other out of the room and down the stairs. He couldn't help but hope this was Potter's way of building peace between them


	11. Chapter Eleven

Not a word was exchanged between the pair as they exited the portrait hole, making their way towards the fifth floor. The silence made the air heavy, both clearly had things on their minds but neither appeared to have the balls to actually speak. It was odd, and Draco could safely say the last time he'd felt so nervous about taking a bath he'd been at the Weasleys with thoughts of Blaise swimming around his head. Maybe Potter had simply taken pity on him, moved by his wistful looks when he remembered he no longer had access to the luxurious bathroom. Of course no one would stop Potter using it.

"Why are you taking me here?" He finally plucked up the courage to ask as they reached the fifth floor. It had been a surprisingly quick journey, aided by the fact that the moving staircases were much less determined to trick students these days. Potter simply shrugged, muttering a password that Draco didn't care enough to pay attention to. As much as he was grateful on this occasion he wasn't going to risk the arrangement they had for the sake of a bath. He'd got the impression that it was already very precariously balanced.

"So you can stop pining?" He retorted, almost as though he was questioning it himself. Draco simply mimicked his earlier shrug, stepping into the familiar room. Not much had changed about it at all. The only difference was the absence of the stained glass of the flirty mermaid. He wasn't sure why she was missing but he couldn't say he would miss here. There had always been something disconcerting about the way she batted her eyelashes whenever he removed his robes. Respecting the silence he padded towards the vast array of taps, running the water on hot, selecting his favourite green apple foam and bouncy vanilla scented bubbles.

"Any requests?" He turned to Potter, blushing furiously when he caught the other in the process of stripping off his clothes. The other seemed unabashed, Draco certainly would be if he had a body like that. Where Draco was all harsh lines and raised scars Potter was toned, well built. Sure he had a slight tummy but that was well deserved considering how malnourished he'd appeared at the final battle.

"Um, I like the pink water or the rainbow water if thats ok?" Draco nodded, going for the pink. It was probably a good call, the coloured water was far from transparent and would offer a level of privacy considering they would both be naked. It didn't take long for the bath to fill, something Draco never understood considering the sheer size of it. Once it was full Draco flipped the taps off, taking a deep breath before slipping out of his clothes. It was an odd feeling to be self conscious, he never had been in school but the past year had taken a way a lot of what he loved about himself. Gone were the muscled built by hours of Quidditch practice, the blemish free skin that although pale never appeared sallow. He was sunken in where he used to be defined, scarred and bruised and reluctant to let Potter see the full extent of it. The second he was undressed he slipped into the water, ignorant of what the other was doing. A couple of seconds passed before a second splash sounded and Potter got into the bath too. It was then he realised how absurd this was, how surreal it felt to be taking a bath with his old rival. Silence filled the air between them once more, both moving as little as possible, unsure as to how to act.

"Draco?" Potter spoke first, something that was quite the relief considering how much Draco's mind had been racing. "Can we put today behind us? We cant be like we used to be if we're going to make it through this year." It was as close to an apology as Potter was going to give him, Draco was already well acquainted with the others reluctance to actually utter the word sorry. He sighed slightly. The child in him wanted to refuse, wantd to go back to the antagonising the other to make up for all the discomfort he'd felt today but his mothers voice was playing in his mind, reminding him of how much Harry had actually done for their family.

"Ok." He agreed with a nod, looking at the other for the first time since they'd got into the bath. "I agree, we can't afford to act like children anymore." Potter seemed to look relieved but Draco wasn't actually finished. "But, can we go through this arrangement at some point and try find away the pair of us can get a break from one another because at this rate we're both going to end up in Azkaban." He was joking, obviously. They'd never put Potter in Azkaban. But he was serious about the need for privacy.

"Definitely" Harry nodded, biting his lip between his teeth, looking surprisingly nervous which confused Draco. "Especially if you want to see Blaise. We'll go through our schedules tomorrow." He was shocked Potter had actually agreed with him. However, he had made it very clear that it hadn't been fun for him to walk in on the pair earlier.

"Ok." Draco responded, not sure what else to say but feeling as though he owed Potter an answer of sorts. Silence settled between them again as he ducked his head under the water, getting his hair wet before swimming towards the taps. He selected his favourite shampoo, the green apple one of course and began to wash his hair. As on edge as he had been about Potter making this decision he was exceptionally grateful to be able to pamper himself a little. The bath at the Weasley's had been good but it didn't compare to this at all. After shampooing he ducked back under the water to rinse off, grateful for the pink water that made it impossible to see anything of Potter's body. When he came up, satisfied his hair was clean Potter still hadn't moved and appeared to be staring into space, lost in his thoughs. "Oi!" Draco called, snapping him out of it. "Isn't the point of a bath to actually bathe?" Potter scowled at him.

"I was just thinking." He muttered in a manner that was overly defensive, swimming towards the taps adjacent to Draco. The blonde looked at the other curiously, narrowing his eyes. Had he been more skilled at occulmency and, had he possessed a death wish, he may have attempted to read the others mind. Every so often Potter just acted odd and he very much wanted to know why. However, he was above stalking the other now.

"Is the Quidditch cup still taking place this year?" Draco asked, wanting to keep up conversation to avoid anymore awkward silences. He'd had his fill of them.

"Yeah." Potter answered, rubbing shampoo into his head before dunking under the water to wash it off. Draco would be lying if he said he wasn't curious as to what scent the other used. Although Potter's hair was...wild, it had always struck him as soft. He shook his head slightly, resisting the urge to let out a laugh at his own train of thought. God, maybe he had just been really oblivious to his sexuality and this wasn't just a recent development. "But, it's not open to our year." He hadn't even noticed Potter resurfacing.

"Why?" He tried to hide his disappointment, although he was unsure he'd have the time for Quidditch with the extra work he was going to have to put into school he really did miss flying. Although he doubted he'd be a very popular addition to any Quidditch team it may have given him the chance to build his body back up from skin and bones.

"Something about us being older and having an unfair advantage." Potter shrugged. Draco reckoned the other had an unfair advantage anyway, not that he'd ever say it out loud but Potter's flying in the room of requirement had been close to professional. "But they've said we can use the Quidditch pitch, do you want to fly sometime?"

"Yeah, I miss it." Draco admitted, swimming back to the edge of the giant bath and leaning back. The water was still warm somehow, the bubbles as big as ever. He truly had missed this bathroom. Comfortable silence fell between them as they both took the chance to relax properly. Draco wasn't sure how long they stayed there but when he finally decided to get out, grabbing a towel as quickly as possible to cover himself up, his fingers were pruned, his figure looking worse than usual due to how gaunt he was. He was seriously considering asking the house elves to give him some nutritional supplements or something, it wouldn't do for him to continue going around like this. Quickly he dried himself off, keeping his back to Potter as much as possible before slipping into his nightclothes. Once done he turned around, expecting the other to have followed his lead and be dressed already. Instead he was faced with an incredibly naked Potter. It took him longer than it should have done to look away, blushing furiously. He was hoping to play it off but Potter's laughter told him that wasn't going to happen.

"It's not going to hurt you Malfoy." He chuckled, seeming quite proud of himself as he dried off. Draco glared in his direction.

"You caught me by surprise." He muttered defensively, crossing his arms. The other just laughed again, dressing quickly before heading for the door.

"It's getting late, we should head off." Potter spoke nonchalently, teasingly. Draco would have came up with some sort of witty remark but he quite liked how things were between them when they weren't actually arguing. Rather begrudginly he followed the other back to their tower, once again greatful for the fact that the stairs weren't moving as much anymore. Now that he had bathed and was in his nightclothes the day was catching up with him, no way would he have been able to keep up with their tricks.

They reached the eighth year tower, welcomed into the common room by a couple of tell tale pops suggesting they'd interrupted the house elves cleaning routine. He hoped they wouldn't be angry about it. Trying not to disturb anyone else they climbed the stairs as quietly as possible, settling into their beds and saying their goodnights. It was peaceful, for once, and Draco didn't feel the urge to sneak into the bathroom once Potter had drifted off. He did however, cast a silencing charm around the mans bed that would hopefully last until he was asleep and drown out the others loud snoring before he settled down.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Waking up at 6:30am was something Draco had not missed and he certainly hadn't adjusted to it yet either. Groaning out loud he rolled over, hitting his alarm rather violently to get it to shut up before dragging himself out of the bed. The steady snoring from the bed beside him told him that the silencing charm had, as expected fallen through at some point during the night but thankfully he'd been fast asleep before that happened. Rolling his eyes at Potter's inability to wake up to an alarm he conjured up a pillow to hit the other in the face, grabbing the uniform he'd laid out over his desk chair and heading to the bathroom to get dressed. He was nervous, to say the very least, about handing in his potions essay. It would be his first time receiving a grade for his work since returning and he was not expecting the grade to reflect what he'd actually done.

"Hurry up in there!" He was brought out of his daydream by Potter knocking on the door loudly. Rolling his eyes he set about getting ready, washing his face and styling his hair before pulling on his trousers, shirt and robes. The robes had always had a slimming effect but he was much less appreciative of that now than he had been previously, he was going to have to start eating like a Weasley if he wanted to improve.

"Calm yourself Potter." He said dryly, no real malice in his voice as he stepped out of the bathroom allowing the other to enter. The other just gave him a glare, closing the door behind him. Whilst Potter got himself ready Draco busied himself sorting out his school bag out. In a moment of slight paranoia he found himself duplicating his essay again, wanting to be as prepared as possible. Some of his classmates had managed to be even less welcoming than Ron and that was saying something. After sorting out his bag, putting in an extra quill for good measure he got his shoes on, rubbing his eyes, wanting to look as alert as possible. It was hard for him to sit still and wait for the other who was taking longer than usual. Or at least it felt this way. He couldn't tell what was making him more uncomfortable, the nervous butterflies in his stomach or the rumbling from how hungry he was. Eventually the other came out of the bathroom, hair all tamed in a way that seemed to contribute to the butterflies filling his stomach.

"Whats up with you?" The other said quizzically, moving about the room to pack his bag up. Draco bit his lip, trying not to stare. There was something about how Potter looked when he was actually well groomed that was 100% doing something for him.

"Just hungry...and worried about the fucking essay." He admitted, fiddling with the cuff of his robes. He did his best to ignore the sympathetic smile that the other gave him.

"You can't do anymore than you have already and I'm all now sorted so we can at least go and sort the hungry thing out." Potter spoke softly, a tone that was a mix of infuriating and...well, nice. Draco managed a simple nod, standing up off of his bed and exiting the room. He kept his head down as they walked to the hall, knowing by now that it was best to try and blend in as much as physically possible to avoid being made a target. He couldn't help but walk a little bit quicker, forcing Potter to keep up with him. "God you are hungry." The other laughed as they finally sat down. Draco just gave him a glare before filling his plate, not really caring how he looked. Although he made effort with his physical appearence he knew now that carrying on with his old Malfoy mannerisms would cause more harm than good and honestly, it made his life a lot easier. It had been hard work preserving his image and, even if he had been trying to do so, he really was too hungry to care.

"Draco?" He nearly choked on his sausage as he felt a hand on his shoulder, relaxing only when the sudden contact was followed by the sound of a familar voice.

"Luna?" He replied, chewing as quickly as he could, turning to face the girl who was stood behind him. "I didn't think you were coming back." She grinned, sitting down in the space beside him and pulling him into a hug.

"I didn't think I was either but I figured it's better than sitting in the house being sad, I arrived last night." Draco smiled, squeezing her tightly. Honestly, he was glad to have her here. The last thing she needed was more time in isolation and, this meant he at least had one good friend in this place.

"I'm happy you're here, I've missed you." He said truthfully. The night Potter, Weasley and Granger had arrived at the manor, taking Luna and everyone else in the basement had been one of the worst nights of his life, second only to his initiation. It was one of the memories he'd given Potter to show the Weasley. When Luna was taken away he'd been left with no one to speak to, however brief their talks had been and the lonliness had been awful.

"And I, you." She said with a smile, happily helping herself to food beside him. The pair ignored the curious looks they were being given, chatting happily over their breakfast. Her presence was calming and he'd nearly forgotten all about his potions essay by the time Potter interjected, clearing his throat.

"Draco, we have to go." His tone was rather sharp, cutting between Draco and Luna. He gave the dark haired man a curious look, not sure why the tone had been necessary before saying goodbye to Luna, grabbing his bag and following the other.

"Hey, slow down." Potter had already started walking away and Draco had to do a little jog to catch up with the other. The other seemed reluctant, a dark sort of look on his face.

"Hey, what's up with you?" He asked rather softly, maybe the other was upset that Luna hadn't paid him any attention. Potter seemed to soften slightly when asked, giving Draco a small smile, the dark look fading as quickly as it had appeared.

"I think my nerves for this essay just hit me." He explained, shrugging his shoulders a little. "I mean I'm not too fussed but compared to my previous potions work..." Draco knew he meant the potions work involving that bloody book. "It's rather sub par." Potter finished with another shrug. The blonde bit back a laugh.

"You'll get the highest mark in the class." Potter raised an eyebrow.

"You know how bad I am at potions!" He protested.

"Potter you killed the Dark Lord, you could melt every cauldron you touched and still become a potions master if you so wished. And if you do fuck it I'll tutor you, maybe then my work will get the recognition it deserves."


	12. Chapter Twelve

Draco hadn't been expecting the other to take him up on his offer of tutoring. He'd assumed, having declined every other opportunity to cut corners, that Potter was going to be as honest as possible with his schooling. However, he certainly wasn't going to make a comment, not when the man was currently speaking to the professor, ensuring his paper was graded to the same standard as everyone else. Keeping his head down he made his way to the back of the class, collecting everything for his potion (the draught of living death) and for Potters, a pepper up potion that was simple but looked relatively impressive and did require some skill. No one commented on him bringing back two cauldrons of ingredients to his desk, probably assuming he was simply trying to impress Potter. Which wasn't entirely wrong.

"You're making a pepper up potion." He hissed when the other came back to the desk. "Dice those roots as carefully as possible, then crush that bulb with a flat knife so you get all the juice on the tray and put the juice and the roots into the cauldron." It was easy for him to guide as he went along, occasionally hissing exasperated corrections just before Potter did something stupid. The other wasn't entirely useless but Draco could see with his own trained eye that he needed to improve, quickly, if he was going to get himself up to NEWT level. Remembering methods was something he definitely had to work on but, Draco assumed he never really had time for that, given that he'd always been trying to stop himself getting killed. If anyone in the class had an excuse for being somewhat shabby it was Potter. Thankfully however, the other didn't actually do anything to fuck the potion up and, although it wasn't exactly perfect when class finished, it was good enough for the Professor to not doubt his abilities in any way.

"Good start Potter, could have been a bit yellower, think you should have collected more juice from those bulbs but other than that it's perfectly passable." The professor nodded, giving the cauldron a stir for good measure. Everyone else had received pretty similar comments, with some being informed they'd perhaps bitten off a little too much and others being told they'd undersold themselves. Since Draco had made the hardest potion his had been saved until last with the professor keen to test it out. He probably hoped to embarrass Draco in some way but again, it would be him he ended up looking foolish. Draco knew his potion was all but perfect. "So Malloy, living death hmm? Go ahead, conjure a leaf or feather and show us what your cabable of." The mans tone was dry, as if he couldn't be any less bothered.

"Ok sir." Draco quipped, ensuring his voice was chirpy as possible. He conjured up a leaf, taking a deep breath before waving it over the cauldron, allowing it to drop in. It didn't even hit the surface before it burst into flame, burning into a crisp before disappearing into the potion. He smirked, eyebrow raising as he looked up at the professor who looked shocked.

"Well, I dare say you've got it perfect." The man spoke in a tight voice, not quite veiling his look of annoyance. He said nothing else, turning on his heel and walking back to the desk. "Class dismissed, collect your marked scrolls on the way back. Anyone who got less than an A will have two detentions with me. In the future below an A will mean you expulsion from this course." No one said a word as they left the classroom but Draco couldn't keep the grin off of his face. In fact, the minute they were outside the dungeon room he found himself pulling Harry into a hug.

"Thank you." He muttered, pulling back almost as quickly as he'd dived on the other. "He'd have kicked me out if it wasn't for you, I appreciate it greatly." For a moment an emotion he couldn't quite recognise flashed over Potters face but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced with a big smile.

"It's nothing, I told you I'd help you." He said calmly, patting Draco on his shoulder as they walked to their next class. Something about the contact made Draco grin like a small child given a chocolate frog. For the first time he was feeling optimistic, positive that somehow this year in this school being shadwoed by the chosen one would work out fine in the end.

\- - - - -

It didn't take long for things to start feeling like they had done before the war, everyone was eventually growing more accustumed to being back in Hogwarts and gradually becoming more cheerful. It wasn't uncommon to stumble across someone standing in a corridor or corner crying, undoubtedly struck with a memory of that particular spot however, it was becoming less and less frequent. To Draco's great surprise (and joy) this resulted in less hatred being directed towards him. He guessed it probably helped that Potter had become very vocal in defending him, making sure McGonagall got it through to every Professor that he was to be marked fairly, having his own private words with them and giving very pointed glares to anyone who even so much as looked in his direction, and it was a nice feeling. Come November, despite Ron's initial reluctance, he was even being invited to fly with the other eigth years, he no longer had to sit and watch them whizz about whilst trying to distract himself with some homework. In fact, having got fully into the swing of schoolwork now, he'd agreed to take a full afternoon off one weekend to play a few proper friendly games. He wasn't sure what he was looking forwards to more, playing Quidditch properly instead of just chucking Quaffle's about or seeing both Potter and Blaise in their flying gear.

"Draco are you nearly done?" Potters knock on their bathroom door startled him out of his little fantasy. "We're going to be late."

"Shit sorry yeah, dosed off." He called back, push a couple strands of his hair back out of his face and giving himself a final once over in the mirror. He looked good, if he did so himself. The past couple of months had definitely done him good. He'd nowhere near gorged himself, he wasn't the type for that at all, but he had put on some weight that he was grateful for. Gone was his sallow skin, sunken eyes and angular frame, he'd began to fill out in all the right places giving him an elegant sort of curve. Shaking his head to stop him falling into daydream land again he exited the bathroom, giving Potter a little nod as the other pushed his way in. Their living arrangment had gotten...easier. They still bickered on occasion, mostly over Potter leaving socks around or over the fact Blaise chose to visit them from time to time but it was more friendly, nowhere near as heated as they had been. Dumbledore would have been proud Draco thought, if he could see them now, he was positive the sight of sworn enemies becoming friends would have warmed the old buggers heart. He grabbed his broom from his wardrobe, perching on the edge of his bed as he waited for the other. Part of him was nervous, not wanting the tension of the games to have any influence on his relationship with Potter or any of the others. Plus, he assumed he'd be given the position of seeker and he wasn't quite as sharp as he had been in his prime.

"Come on, you're drifting off again." Draco hadn't even noticed Potter had left the bathroom. Unfortunately he could do nothing to hide the blush he felt staining his cheeks as he stood up rather sheepishly, giving Potter a nod as they made their way to the common room where everyone else was waiting.

"Finally!" Blaise exclaimed, walking up to Draco and immediately wrapping his arms around the blondes shoulders. "Took your time." He heard Ron groan but paid it no mind, allowing Blaise's arm to remain where is was as they all made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. The bubble of nerves remained in his stomach but he was excited,especially as they were told the pre-established teams and formations. He was to be seeker, as was Potter, back in the day that rivalry had been all that mattered to him and he was looking for the oppurtunity to pretend that was still the case. 

It appeared everyone else was just as excited. They normally had fun flying about and playing silly training games but today the atmosphere seemed different. In fact the air around them seemed charged, electric, crackling with the nostaligia that had them all beaming like lunatics. It didn't take them long to get set up, all of them acting as though they were 11 again. Things had been more comfortable for Draco recently but this was the best he'd felt since....well, since degnoming at the Weasleys. The only thing that could have made this better would have been Lee Jordan's outrageous commentary that had almost always resulted in McGonagall taking the mic away. Draco refused to let himself question what had happened to Lee, both out loud or in his head.

"Are you ok?" Potter's voice interrupted his thoughts. Although he hadn't drifted as far off as he had previously, managing to get on his broom, stand on the correct side and face Potter ready for the release of the snitch, he still hadn't been entirely engaged. The other sounded somewhat concerned.

"Yeah." He said quickly, giving Potter what he hoped would be a reassuring smile. "Just reminiscing a little." He explained further as the other was still wearing a slightly puzzled look. Potter looked ready to say something but got interupted by Hermione who had been coaxed along to release the balls, making the whole thing as realistic as possible as no one had to do it quickly then run to their brooms. 

"Right, I want a good clean game today." Her words were ones that used to fill him with adrenaline, unfortunately she lacked the tone and enthusiasm of Madamme Hooch so it wasn't quite as exhilirating. "Um...go?" She released the snitch with minimal ceremony, blowing the whistle sharply. Although Draco would usually have been tempted to tease her slightly he didn't allow himself to be distracted, flying up into the air and immediately finding a spot in which he could keep an eye out. The game was in full swing almost immediately and it was hard to keep the smile off of his face. He kept his eye on Potter however, not wanting to get distracted and knowing fine well his best bet was to watch the other. It had taken him most of his second and third year to realise but there was nothing he could do to stop Potter finding the snitch before him, it was best to simply beat him to it.

"Watch out Malfoy!" A voice bellowed as he narrowly avoided a bludger, it appeared Ron had given up on his pursuit of the keeper position and was following in his elder brothers footsteps. "Unfortunately you have to be alive to win." Some cruel twist of fate had landed them on the same team but again he tried to pay no mind to that, focusing on where Potter was. The other seemed somewhat bored but Draco knew he was alert as ever. In the split second it took for him to blink Potter had started to ascend rapidly and Draco narrowed his eyes, following as quickly as his broom would allow him. The game carried on below, shouts and cheers indicating that someone had managed to score. He didn't care to check which team, focusing on beating Potter. Following the mans every movement he managed to set his own eyes on the snitch, watching it twist and turn as he kept climbing higher. It wouldn't be long till it undoubtedly plunged to the ground and so he allowed himself to remain below the other, trying to block everything else out. When the snitch started to fall he did too, practically on the end of his broom as he did his best to focus, ignoring Potter as much as he could. If he so much as glanced at the other it would all be over for him. Taking a deep breath he pushed further, getting as close to the ground as he could, arm outstretched. For the first time in his life he wasn't concerned about the other seeker, simply focusing on his own position. His heart was in his stomach, he only needed to get a little bit closer.

"DRACO MALFOY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH" Hermione's voice rang through the stadium, sounding significantly less bored than she had previously. Draco could hardly believe it, slowing to a stop, hand grasping the golden ball tight. He'd beaten Potter. It took him a second to process it before he was holding his hand up high, grinning as his team cheered, a whole group of people were actually cheering for him. Even Potter was smiling, clapping slowly as he made his way to the ground, mouthing a well done. In his younger years he would have killed for this moment. 

"Draco, you planning on coming down." Blaise's voice snapped him out of his truimphant daydream. Almost instantaneously he felt himself blush, descending the final couple of metres and placing his feet firmly on the floor, dismounting swiftly. The moment he was off of his broom Blaise pulled him into a hug, arms wrapping tight around his waist. "Well done." He murmoured. In his excitement Draco found himself about to kiss the other right there, right in the middle of the quidditch pitch without a care in the world. 

"Um." Trust Potter to ruin the moment, at least he had the sense to look sheepish as Draco turned and gave him a scathing glare. "Me and Ron wanna do some flying over the lake, wanna come or can I trust you to be alone for like half an hour." Draco felt his eyebrows shoot up. The other was considering leaving him alone? He blinked, shocked.

"You can trust me." He assured, not sure what else to say. "Um, I was gonna head to the changing rooms anyway so i'll probably just stay there?" Potter nodded.

"Best you don't let anyone see I'm not with you...just in case." Blaise's arm wrapped around Draco's waist and Draco find himself pulled to the other mans side.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he stays out of the way." Draco could hear the smirk in the other mans voice, he was sure Potter could as well but Ron's shout called him away before he had a chance to protest out loud. Allowing himself to be pulled away Potter turned over his shoulder, giving Draco a look that could only be described as warning. Needless to say he was going to pay that warning no heed. Just as the dark haired man had been dragged off by Ron he found himself dragged away by Blaise. He had to practically run to keep with the other as he was pulled towards the changing rooms. 

"Whats the hurry?" He laughed slightly, unable to hold back the wave of nostalgia that came with being back here. They were still just as crummy as ever, still smelling like thousands of worn Quidditch socks but they were warm and, as Potter had requested, kept them out of sight. 

"Well, firstly we're completely free of Potter for long enough to actually have some fun and secondly I've been staring at your ass in those Quidditch pants all day long and so I very much feel like having some fun." Blaise drawled, smirking slightly, looking Draco up and down very pointedly.

"Oh." He said softly, blushing. He hadn't even noticed the other looking at him but, then again, his focus had been entirely on Potter. "And what sort of fun are you proposing?" 

"I think you know exactly what I mean." Blaise stepped closer, hands finding Draco's hips, thumbs rubbing over his hipbones that still protruded ever so slightly. "Why don't you get undressed and we can head to the showers? May as well kill two birds with one stone." For a moment Draco hesitated, biting his lip between his teeth but what other chance would he get? There was no telling when Potter would trust him enough to leave him alone again and honestly, he'd had enough of rushed kisses in toilets. With a nod he did as he was told, stripping as quickly as he could, not bothering to fold his clothes but casting a quick cleaning spell over them so they'd be fresh when he was done before turning the shower on, ensuring the water was warm. He got under the spray first, feeling incredibly exposed as Blaise was slower to strip, eyes locked on his own naked body in a way he could only describe as hungry.

"Hurry up." He whined, feeling himself flushing redder. They didn't have time for slow stripping and a ceremony, the last thing he wanted was to be caught by Potter again. Blaise quirked an eyebrow, pulling off the rest of his clothes and stepping into the shower, wand held low to his side.

"As you wish." He purred, free hand holding Draco's waist tightly, a gesture that made Draco feel exceptionally small. "Relax, I can prep you with a spell and I'll cast some cleanliness charms too?" It wasn't the sexiest statement Draco had ever heard but, Blaise was presumably skilled enough to cast the skills non verbally as he pulled Draco into a passionate kiss. Draco blocked out the feeling of Blaises wand moving against his thigh and the slight tingling sensation the spells gave him, focusing instead on the feeling of a naked body against his. This was something he'd literally been dreaming about. After casting the spells Blaise through his wand in the direction of his pile of clothes, holding Dracos hips with both hands now. They kissed for a while, their arousal obvious but eventually Blaise pulled back. "We don't have time darling, as much as I was enjoying that, turn yourself around yeah?"

"Is this going to hurt?" Draco found himself mumbling, doing as he was told, bracing his hands on the tile wall. He heard Blaise laugh softly and was suddenly glad he wasn't facing the other, knowing fine well he'd probably gone as red as the Gryfinndor house banner.

"Maybe a little, it shouldn't be too bad as I've used a prep spell." Blaise answered seconds later. The blonde only had time to nod before Blaise was lining himself up against his entrance. It caused his heart rate to speed up an amount that was almost worrying and although he tried not to tense he did close his eyes tightly, expecting the worst. For all of his fantasising he hadn't exactly had the time to research this with Potters constant presence. Blaise pressed a small kiss to the back of his head as he pushed forwards, entering him finally. A rush of relief flooded through Draco as he realised the sensation wasn't entirely awful, Blaise's spell had done a good job. "You good?"

"Y-yeah." His reply came out breathier than he expected as Blaise kissed at his neck, stopping his movements to allow Draco to adjust. Although Draco appreciated the gesture, it wasn't one they necessarily had time for. "I'm ok, you can move." He whined, somewhat impatiently, pushing himself back flush to Blaise's hips. That had felt incredible. He didn't need to see Blaise to know the other was smirking, closing his eyes as the man followed his command, thrusting slowly but deeply in ways that made Dracos toes curl. This was better than he had imagined, more incredible than he had thought in all his dirty little daydreams. It was hard for him to stifle the soft moans that threatened to escape his lips, so hard that he soon gave up entirely, allowing his noises to be heard. Blaise seemed to appreciate that, grunting in response as his thrusts got faster. It was almost too much, the feeling and Draco found his nails scraping at the tiles as Blaises fingers dug into his hips. He was positive he would have marks there after they were finished and that thought sent a rush of pleasure coursing through his body.

"You feel fucking incredible." Blaise muttered darkly against the shell of his ear, lips brushing the blondes hot skin. Draco just whimpered as a reply, biting his lip between his teeth, no way could he have managed anything more coherent than that. He was suprised at how intimate Blaise was being, kissing and touching him almost tenderly. Their relationship was far from a relationship, it was all simply for fun but Draco did appreciate the effort the other seemed to be putting in to make this a nice memory for him. Although the setting definitely could have been improved upon. 

"Blaise." He groaned softly, feeling his stomach clenching slightly as one of the mans hands moved into his hair, tugging his head back as his thrusts sped up. "I think I.." He didn't get to finish his sentence. The changing room door opened suddenly, slamming against the wall causing a noise that seemed to startle Blaise as he jumped back somewhat abruptly, leaving Draco very much empty and disappointed. There was only one person who would have reason to come storming into the changing rooms and sure enough when he turned to face the door he saw Potter standing there, as red as red could be, looking as shocked as he felt. 

"Again...really" The bespectacled man just about managed to choke out, eyes lingering on Draco in a way that made him squirm for a couple of seconds before snapping out of his apparent trance. "Just...get dressed, i'll wait outside, we have to go back to the castle." His tone switched to one that was noticeably cool, expression going blank as he turned on his heal and left. Draco didn't waste any time doing as he was told, giving Blaise an apologetic look that was met with a shrug.

"One day he'll stay away." The other muttered, going about getting dressed nearly as slowly as he'd stripped off, clearly having no reason to rush as Draco did. 

"Thank you anyway." Draco muttered, giving Blaise a slightly embarrassed smile once he had his clothes back on before following on Potter's heels, leaving the changing rooms. As promised the dark haired man was waiting outside, arms folded, Weasley no where to be seen.

"You do realise anyone could have walked in on you then? You could have at least locked the doors properly." Potter spoke in a scathing tone as he practically marched off in the direction of the castle. "If you're going to continue to make an idiot of yourself, you might also want to remember that your actions affect my reputation." Draco found himself frowning. He hadn't been expecting Potter to actually be angry.

"What do you mean make an idiot of myself?" Potter scoffed the minute Draco had finished speaking. 

"Blaise doesn't actually give a shit about you yet there you are bending over for him, its pathetic." Draco certainly hadn't been expecting that.

"I know he doesn't give a shit. I'm not after a relationship, I can just want sex you know." He retorted, tone as cool as he could manage. If the other was trying to provoke him Draco certainly wasn't going to react.

"Yeah you know what that makes you Draco? A bit of a fucking whore." Potter's voice had risen and he practically shouted the insult that had Draco stopping in his tracks, blinking in shock. Although the other looked shocked as well, as if he hadn't thought he would actually say that out loud he showed no remorse, continuing his march back up to the castle. It felt as though Draco had taken a bludger to the stomach, he was winded, taking a couple of minutes to recover before he remembered he still had to follow the other man. Here he was optimistic about the coming months, certain Potter was finally on his side, almost daring to call the man a friend and the other was going to push him away over something like that. It made him feel sick and, from the cold indifference Potter was displaying he knew this was going to drag out for a while, ruining the peace that had become normal and making everything uncertain once more.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this chapter and the previous chapters were written before I decided to publish this work. The remaining chapters are works in progress so uploads might be a bit slower from here on out but I promise I'm not dropping this!  
> As always please leave comments and kudos, they really motivate me to keep on going.  
> (also ik no one probably cares too much but I got my degree results today and I have a 2:1 in law!!)

It didn't take Draco long to pick up on the fact Potter was very much ignoring him.

However, it did take him a couple of days to figure out this (for some unknown reason) wasn't going to be something Potter snapped out of easily. The other was harbouring a grudge for sure and, as he was being so pointedly ignored, there was no real way for Draco to remedy the situation. He couldn't make Potter less mad if he didn't even know why he was mad. With Potter's silence everyone else seemed to turn their backs on him also, whether they meant to or not and so Draco found himself back to square one. Only now it was worse because he'd had a taste of what it was like to be treated normally. Of course he still had to sit with Potter and his friends but once again he was fading into the background, barely even noticed as they went about their lives. Well, Ron didn't really add much to any conversation and Potter seemed less than enthused even talking in Dracos presence, but Hermione was very much a chatterbox. She was like a broken record when it came to the topic of the soon to be announced head boy and girl. Although it had taken until the end of November for McGonagall to pick someone her excitement had not been deterred. Quite frankly McGonagall would have to be barking to pick anyone other than Hermione to be head girl, it would almost definitely send her off the rails however, surprisingly Granger was more interested in who would be head boy. Draco had to admit he was curious too, not that he'd ever been asked his opinion or joined in a conversation about the topic but he was. Something told him it wouldn't be a position Potter would actually want to accept.

"Hermione, please, I'm trying to focus on my potions work." Draco was snapped out of his trance of self pity by Potter's somewhat exasperated voice. Potters sudden ignorance of Dracos existence meant he could hardly just ask Draco for help when he was struggling, on one hand that made Draco feel pretty smug because the golden boy relied on him for at least one thing but on the other hand it made him nervous, what if the professors decided to view Potters failure as Dracos fault, despite Dracos own impeccable grades. Hermione gave Harry a rather pointed look, as if silently trying to communicate that he had brought this all upon himself which didn't do anything to lesson the building feeling of smugness. For a fleeting second Potter looked at Draco, almost as though he was about to actually acknowledge him but it didn't last long, he turned back to his work almost as quickly as he'd looked up. Draco decided the only proper thing to do was to roll his eyes, lazily taking out his own completed potions essay and checking it over half heartedly.

This was getting old very quickly.

"Draco." A dreamy voice tore him away from his proof reading. He couldn't fight the smile that took over his face as he turned around swiftly. It had been a while since he'd seen Luna about, she liked to keep to herself even more than she had done before the war but at least she wasn't deliberately refusing to acknowledge him. "Apparently no one is speaking to you." She spoke as bluntly as ever causing Ron to choke slightly on the biscuits he was cramming down. "And so I was wondering if you'd like to help me with something at the astronomy tower tonight, apparently theres been a lot of Wrackspurts about." He smiled, about to open his mouth to speak but she'd turned to Potter, cutting him off before he had a chance. "Draco won't run off from me Harry and as you're not speaking I'm probably better company." Then, in typical Luna style she was skipping off, as if she hadn't just ordered the boy who lived about.

"You're not going." Harry spoke, uttering his first words to Draco in a rather forceful tone. Draco raised his eyebrow slowly.

"You heard Luna, there's a wrackspurt problem." He retorted, immediately regretting it as it wasn't the most credible claim. "Plus, in case you're forgetting, Luna's my friend. I respect her more than I respect you and wouldn't want to get her into trouble so you can fear not, I won't be running away to get shagged in a broom closet." He snapped back, shocked slightly at the venom he heard in his own voice as he stood from the table, turning on his heal and walking off as fast as he could to the potions dungeons. Did Potter really have such little faith in him? Was it really such an issue that he'd seized the one chance he'd been given to have some fun. He grumbled slightly, storming past a first year who let out a surprised little squeak. He couldn't even bring himself to apologise, scowling as he entered the classroom.

Couldn't things be easy for him just once?

\- - - - -

For the rest of the day Draco employed the same tactic Potter had been using on him. He ignored the man as much as was physically possible, refusing to even glance in his direction in the hopes that it would at least annoy the other man. It wasn't exactly the most dramatic thing he could do, it wasn't as though Potter was dying to talk to him but, given how angry Potter seemed to be with just about everything he assumed it was having some impact. Come dinner time Potter was even taking his anger out on Weasley and Granger, something that brought Draco more joy than he cared to admit. He ate quickly, hoping Luna would come collect him to deal with the problem (if there even was one) as soon as possible. She had a knack for reading people and would probably be able to tell when he was finishing up.

"Draco." Sure enough the minute he had put down his fork Luna's voice sounded from behind him. He ignored the positively venomous scowl that Potter gave him, something he didn't even need to see to notice as he could feel it burning into the side of his face and stood, leaving the angry Gryfinndors behind.

"So Wrackspurts?" He questioned as they made their way to the astronomy tower. He hadn't been up there since...well, since he nearly killed Dumbledore. Still, he was sure he couldn't manage it, he'd seen all the bodies laid out in the great hall afterall, just as most people had. If he could stand that he could stand anything. Luna giggled, skipping her way up the steps. It was as though she couldn't move anywhere without bouncing.

"No, no wrackspurts. I made that up." She spoke, shrugging her shoulders, not bothering to turn back to Draco as she carried on walking. "I know no ones speaking to you. It didn't seem fair to let you sit in silence when you were so good to me." Draco couldn't help but grin, shaking his head fondly, following her to one of the large windows and sitting down beside her.

"Thanks Luna" He sighed, aware of how tired he sounded. This whole Potter situation was quite frankly wearing him out. He looked to the girl, rubbing his temples slowly. "I don't even know what I've done wrong, I get that he's annoyed I snuck off but he practically gave me permission to do so. Things were going so well now he won't talk to me and Blaise won't even go near me anymore." Luna reached out her hand, placing it over his knee and gave him one of her faraway looking smiles.

"I can't be too sure, Harry hasn't spoken to me much either." She said gently, not that he voice ever sounded anything but gentle. "He's never been too good at hiding his emotions but this year he's very guarded. I think he cares deeply for you Draco. He might even be jealous?" Draco blinked, looking at the girl as if she'd gone absolutely raving mad. For all she had been nicknamed loony lovegood in his eyes this was the first truly loony thing she'd ever said.

"Nonesense." He replied cooly, shaking his head and turning his attention to the grounds below them. "He doesn't care, he's only doing this for me because his hero complex would never have let him rest had he let me be shipped off to Azkaban. He's taken a great amount of joy in putting me down or making hurtful remarks." He was rambling, that much he knew, but the knowledge didn't make him stop. The silence he'd been surrounded by had him making good use of the oppurtunity to have conversation

.

"That's not like Harry." Luna shook her head, pulling her knees to her chest. "I don't quite know why he brought you back and why he's agreed to watch you but I think the real reason relates to why he's ignoring you now. I think Harry might be hurt, if he was angry he'd have lashed out on you by now."

"But what reason does he have to be hurt? It's not as though I've committed some terrible betrayal or done something to offend him. I shagged someone he knew I was probably going to end up shagging" Despite his frustruation he kept his tone level. Nothing would make him shout at Luna, no wizard, witch or other magical creature could force him to do so. She'd endured too much for him to handle that guilt.

"I don't know Draco." She replied, falling silent for a moment, taking a deep breath before looking him straight in the eyes. She looked stern, an expression that didn't really suit her face. "Draco...sometimes what you want and what you need can be hard to distinguish. You may think you need Harry to just let you live but I suspect that's not truly the case, I think you'd benefit from trying to find what you really truly need this year." Draco blinked slowly, digesting her words. Although he had nothing but admiration for her she was far from straightforward at the best of times. Of course she was no prophet but she understood people exceptionally well, if she said he'd benefit from something he'd put faith in that.

But how was he to distinguish between wants and needs when he wasn't even sure what he wanted yet alone what the seperation criteria was and how to apply said criteria?

It took him a few moments to actually get something from her words. The room of requirement. How could he have been so stupid? If he needed something, surely that would show him it and offer him some clarity? That's if the room hadn't been totally destroyed. He certainly hadn't heard anyone talking about it recently but if Luna had alluded to it then surely it had to be ok?

"Thanks Luna!" He exclaimed, suddenly too impatient to wait any longer, scrambling up off the floor. She didn't reply, offering him only a smile before she conjured up a pillow and laid herself down in a fashion so typically Luna he couldn't help but chuckle softly. With his heart racing in his chest he made his way along to the seventh floor. The room couldn't physically lay out to him what he needed, if he needed to do something for Potter or vice versa he knew it could only offer hints or perhaps a place for him to figure everything out but that didn't stop excitement bubbling through him.

"Draco Malfoy!" A cold voice stopped him in his tracks, killing his excitement instantaneously. "Can I ask where you're going and why you're not in Mr Potter's presence?" Draco sighed, turning to face the rather smug looking potions professor.

"I was with Luna Lovegood sir, Potter gave me permission. On my way back a staircase turned around." It was bullshit, they both knew it but the professor seemed to concede, simply nodding tightly.

"Best be turning yourself around then." He sneered and Draco had no choice but to do just that. He couldn't risk sneaking out again that night, finding the room or attempting to would have to wait till the next evening.

If he could get away from Potter.

\- - - - -

Draco didn't sleep well that night.

He was too restless, anxious for the opportunity to slip away from Potters gaze. His itch to get away didn't improve once morning came either. Part of him just wanted to make a run for it, to slip off at the earliest opportunity but he didn't think that would go down well at all. The other man was still pointedly ignoring him but that didn't mean he wouldn't notice if Draco vanished. In his excited state, it was difficult to keep up the act, mimicking Potters ignorance and haughty annoyance but Draco thought he was managing surprisingly well. Hermione had given up trying to get the two to engage with one another over breakfast, her attempts to start conversation being met only with raised eyebrows and mumbled responses. Meaning she was irritable, to say the least.

Thankfully the day itself wasn't too intense As coursework mounted up the amount of classes they all had was slowly winding down. Draco didn't have to try to focus much. He could get away with pondering over his textbooks and feigning engagement whenever his mind wandered elsewhere. He knew he would have to work twice as hard the next day, once he had satiated his curiosity. Their assignments were far from easy. In fact, it seemed most professors were hell bent on tricking them out as much as possible. For each argument, they had to try and advance there was significant criticism and the magical lore was very confused in places. It wasn't the best time to be wholly distracted but, he blamed Potter entirely. As he 'worked' Draco spent a while putting together his plan. His best chance of a successful get away was just before dinner. He could bullshit about needing to retrieve a book, about being on the brink of something crucial to his essay and dart off before Potter could stop him. He wasn't sure if he was happy or frustrated at the fact that, ultimately, all his scheming was unnecessary. Luna came to his rescue again.

"Ah, Draco." Her strangely far away voice broke him away from his plotting. "The Wrackspurts didn't like us trying to get them to move on. We have err, a little bit of a situation." Harry hadn't even managed to open his mouth, yet alone object, before Luna was dragging Draco away by the sleeve of his robe. He couldn't help but laugh to himself because having Luna on his side was the best excuse he could possible hope for. Fuck knows why he hadn't sought her out in the first place.

"You really are something, Luna." She just smirked, the slightly mischievous glint in her eye bringing Draco nothing but joy. He never wanted to see the lifeless, ghost-like Luna he had grown accustomed to during their overlapping stays at the manor ever again.

"You won't have much time." She warned as they finally reached their destination. "The room is...unstable." Draco nodded, half listening. The image of fiendfyre was still, even after all this time, burnt into his eyelids. If he concentrated hard enough he could taste the ash on his tongue. Not even magic as old as that which resided in Hogwarts foundations could fix everything. Especially magic as dark and as fearsome as the flames he had only just escaped from.

"How will I know when it's time to get out?" He practically mumbled, blinking a couple of times in an effort to put out the fire that was dancing across his imagination. Luna only shrugged, looking just as faraway as her voice she sounded.

"I'm not sure, I haven't been in there." She practically singsonged, as though Dracos life wasn't on the line. "No one has. One of the kitchen elves told me that its still broken, mostly safe but not quite right." And of course Luna hadn't been in herself. Of course she was relying on information supplied to her by a house elf. It wasn't that he didn't trust the elves but their magic was strong, much closer to the sort of magic the room was founded on than his was. An elf was definitely protected than a wizard, particularly a wizard who didn't know what he was going up against. Still, he had to give this a shot. Potter was proving to be a puzzle he couldn't decipher singlehandedly.

"You'll stay here, right?" He mumbled, trying not to let his nerves show through too much. The last thing he wanted was for Luna to cast some calming charm that numbed his responses.

"Focus on what you need." She snapped, pushing him forward. "I'll be here. Be quick, Harry will have my head if he finds me without you." Draco just nodded, taking a couple of steps closer to the empty wall, doing his best to focus on what he needed. It was hard, especially as he had to simultaneously try to block out memories of heat and soot and fear, but eventually a small door appeared in front of him. Swallowing down his nerves, walking ever closer with legs shakier than he cared to admit, Draco opened said door and entered the room. Part of him expected to be met by a burnt out wasteland, a barely distinguishable shell of the space he had once spent so long slaving away in. Thankfully, that wasn't the image he was greeted with.

"What the." He muttered to himself, frowning heavily as he took in his surroundings. Luna had clearly been right about the room being slightly wrong. What he was being shown made no sense. It must have picked up on how tired he was, assuming he was looking for a place to sleep and overlooking what he'd practically begged it for because he was currently standing in his and Potters shared bedroom. The only noticeable difference being that their two beds were fused. Surely he couldn't be so sleep deprived the room had overlooked his intense desire to figure out what the fuck was up with Potter? No matter how messed up the room was it must have left a clue somewhere. Swallowing, hard, Draco took a step forward doing his best to take in each and every detail. As the room had decided to make things difficult he had to treat everything as though it was relevant.

Thankfully, it didn't take him long to notice that the room hadn't just fused the beds. On top of the covers, half of which corresponded with his bedding, the other half with Potters, was a small envelope. Nervously he sat himself down, picking it up and turning it over a couple of times in his hands. It was surprisingly weighty.

"Ow, fuck." He gasped as he caught his finger on a sharp edge that had pierced through the thick parchment. Carefully, so as not to get blood all over, he opened the envelope, revealing a fragmented piece of heavily inscribed mirror and two gold bands on a heavy chain. He frowned, gently sucking on the tip of his cut finger to stop the bleeding as he inspected the items the room appeared to have gifted him with. It took him a moment to decipher the runes that nearly completely covered one edge of the shard and a couple more minutes to check that he'd understood correctly. Eventually he was forced to concede that he hadn't made a translation error. In his hand was a piece of the Mirror of Erised. His desire to know how the room had conjured this up was overridden by his desire to know what the mirror thought his heart wanted the most. He moved to bring the shard up to eye level, praying to Merlin that the fragment would have the same effect as the whole mirror. Of course his prayers were unnecessary. The room clearly wasn't so broken that it would provide him with obsolete pieces of glass. Almost the moment he looked into the mirror properly, focusing on his reflection rather than the runes around the edge, the image shifted.

He nearly threw it across the room when he realised what he was looking at.

His reflection was standing in Potters arms, dressed in a tight fitting muggle suit and embracing the other man passionately. Both of them were smiling so through the embrace it was a wonder their faces hadn't split. In his startled state it took Draco longer than it should have to notice the rings the mirror versions of Potter and him were wearing on the fourth fingers of their left hands. The same rings that he was holding in his hand. Draco felt slightly ill. Was the mirror seriously telling him that his hearts greatest desire was to marry Potter? Surely that couldn't be the case? He didn't really have time to question what he was seeing further as, as if sensing his distress, the floor began to shake violently. Remembering Luna's suggestion that he hurry he snapped out of his stupor, spring to his to feet and half sprinting in the direction of the entrance. He didn't care to find out what would happen if he outstayed his welcome.

"Ah Draco." Luna greeted him cheerily as he all but fell out of the room, stumbling a couple of times before managing to find his feet and regain his balance "Find what you need?" He looked down at the objects he was clutching tightly to his chest.

"Not really." He breathed, slipping the shard into the pocket of his robes and putting the chain around his neck. Not only did he feel further away from understanding Potter than he had when he had entered the room he apparently had a major journey of self discovery to embark on.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi,
> 
> Sorry it's taken so long!! I had a lot I wanted to cover in this chapter and my internet has been shocking. Thank you so much for the comments and kudos, please keep them coming! I really enjoy hearing what you have to say.

Despite the fact, Potter was ignoring him Draco had hoped to come back to an empty dorm. There was something very disconcerting about the thought of having to process what he’d just seen with the subject of his concerns less than a foot away. Plus, this wasn’t the sort of thing Draco could simply sleep on, he needed to figure it out as soon as possible. Having Potter around would undoubtedly distract him. There had to be some hidden meaning in what the mirror had shown him. It had to mean something else, something that actually made sense.

If his heart's desire was to spend the rest of his life with Potter then he wouldn’t find his near-constant presence so annoying, so difficult to handle?

By the time he got to his room, he’d all but convinced himself that the mirror shard had been influenced by the magic of the room of requirement. It had to have been showing him what the room thought he needed to see. Or perhaps, somehow, it had been showing him what Potters heart desired? He had, after all, requested the room help him figure Potter out and Luna had warned him that the room was a bit wrong. Maybe the damage had suffered had made it more enthusiastic, a bit more literal in the solutions it provided, removed some of its apparent boundaries? He shuddered slightly. He wasn’t sure what was worse, his hearts desire to be to marry Potter or Potters hearts desire being to marry him. The thought of either option being true made him feel more than a little nauseous, heightening the anxiety he already felt. It didn’t help that Potters made his presence obvious almost the second Draco entered the room, non verbally jinxing the blonde so that he dangled from the ceiling by his ankle. Draco's relief that the mirror shard remained safely tucked into his robes was rather short-lived, quickly replaced by swelling rage.

“What the fuck?” He yelped, wriggling around as if doing so would pull his ankle out of the position it seemed to be glued in. This was definitely not helping his nausea. “Potter, let me down this fucking second, so help me, Merlin.”

“Don’t make me silence you.” Was Potters only response. Had Draco been the right way up he would have cast aside his wand in favour of physically punching the smirk off of the others face. To be fair, had Potter been close enough, he probably would have given it the best shot he could whilst upside down.

“Oh, you speak now?” He spat back, manoeuvring himself and holding tight to the suspended ankle in a way that allowed him to hold his torso the right way around. Potter clearly hadn’t considered the risk of the blood rushing to Draco’s head. Or maybe he simply didn’t care. His smirk suggested the latter was the more likely answer.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Was Potters simple reply, arms crossed over his chest. Draco didn’t need to look at his face to know his smirk had turned into more of a grin, amused by the blondes efforts to keep himself upright.

“With Luna, where the fuck do you think?” Draco couldn’t hide the incredulous edge to his voice. Had he or had he not told Potter where he would be? Had Luna vouched for him or had she not? Was Potter seriously dense enough to forget a conversation they’d had less than 3 hours earlier?

“Yes, but where?” Harry replied, almost sounding exasperated. “Have you fuck been getting rid of Wrackspurts or whatever the fuck it was for the whole afternoon?” Draco did his best to glare from the position he was in.

“What, worried I snuck Luna into a broom cupboard or something?” Draco sneered. “Don’t worry, I haven't been tainted further. We had to walk around the whole castle, Wrackspurts are apparently quite fast and quite adventurous.” It may have just been the angle that Draco was suspended at but he could have sworn a sheepish look flashed over the others face only to immediately be replaced by a hard glare.

“I wouldn’t put it past you.” He muttered, turning away from Draco and unceremoniously muttering the counter jinx, sending Draco crashing to the floor with a thump. Draco wasn’t even annoyed by the fact Potter hadn’t given him any warning or any opportunity to brace himself. His rage was entirely the result of Potters words. Once again Potter was treating him as though he was some common whore, immediately jumping to a conclusion despite the fact he had little to no insight into his and Lunas’ friendship. Seething Draco pulled himself up off of the floor, glaring daggers into the darker haired man's back.

“As far as you have made me aware Potter, there is nothing in our little arrangement that suggests I can’t have friends. Especially friends that were on your fucking side. If you don’t trust Luna to babysit me then that is very much a you problem.” He spat, tone dripping with venom. “And I refuse to be painted a whore simply because you found me in a compromising position once. We’ve already established that until recently I was a virgin, so your accusations of promiscuity are the definition unfounded. Further, is the absurdity of your accusation not blatantly obvious? Luna is a friend and, a girl, you've only seen me interact with men. Hunting Wrackspurts is definitely not an innuendo.” Draco was panting by the time he’d finished talking, chest rising and falling rapidly. The adrenaline coursing through him temporarily distracted him from the fact he’d essentially just told Potter he was gay. But only temporarily. Eventually, he realised the gravity of his words, the thick silence between them once again causing his anxiety to spike and any sense of relief he felt as a result of finally standing up for himself to vanish. Since when was he gay? Back at The Burrow he'd considered himself bisexual but now, apparently even on a subconscious level, he didn't fit that label. He guessed it had been a really long time since he'd thought of tits. He wasn’t sure how long they stood in silence, frozen in their respective spots but fuck it felt like years.

“Potter, I..” No sooner had he found his voice again he lost it, trailing off as he failed to find the words to explain away his confession. Thankfully his false start seemed to break Potter out of whatever trance he’d been in. The dark-haired man turned on his heel, looking at Draco with a strange intensity.

“I’m sorry.” He blurted out, words only just distinguishable. Draco blinked a couple of times, frowning as Potter took a few steps forward, closing the gap between them. “I’m sorry.” He repeated, words less rushed, apology obviously more deliberate.

“For?” Draco challenged, raising an eyebrow as he tried not to let their proximity get to him.

“For being a prat, for shaming you unnecessarily and for being so immature over the past few days,” Potter responded almost immediately. Had Draco not been so focused on remembering how to breathe the sincerity in Potters voice would probably have annoyed him. He nodded his acceptance, not quite trusting himself to speak as Potter seemed to loom ever closer. “Can I kiss you?”

For reasons unknown to Draco, he nodded, barely letting Potter finish his question.

Harry just smiled, grabbing Draco by the hips and closing the gap between them. Unlike the last time, they’d found themselves in this position Draco wasn’t frozen in shock. He looped his arms around Harry’s shoulders, pressing himself against the other man's chest shamelessly and whining happily as Harry deepened the kiss. Harry broke the kiss only to push Draco back slightly, pinning him against the bedroom wall before crashing their lips together again. There was no hiding how affected both of them were but neither seemed to care. In fact, Draco found himself grinding his hips forward in search of friction as Harry licked into his mouth forcefully. If his stomach was full of butterflies then that was his business and his business alone. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed locked in a passionate embrace but, when Harry pulled back, both of them were wide-eyed and aroused.

“That was.” Draco didn’t manage to finish his sentence, impressed by how fucked out his voice sounded after only a kiss. Harry flushed, cheeks turning the same impressive shade of red as his lips.

“Good?” Harry suggested. “Like, really good?” Draco found himself nodding.

“Like really good.” He agreed, still breathless, the heat of his face suggesting Harry wasn’t the only one blushing furiously.

“Um, do you mind if I go…bathroom?” Harry looked so out of his depth Draco couldn’t help but grin.

“Yeah, I mean, no.” He replied through a soft laugh. “I’m gonna…bed.” They stared at each other for a couple moments before simultaneously breaking away, Harry locking himself in their small en suite and Draco drawing the curtains around his bed. Neither of them took long to get their release but Harry seemed to hang around in the bathroom for a little longer than necessary, either reluctant to accidentally interrupt Draco or afraid he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself if Draco hadn’t finished when he reentered their bedroom. Admittedly Draco was thankful for the extra time Harry’s hesitance provided him, cleaning himself hurriedly, pulling on pyjamas and shoving the mirror fragment into the bottom of his trunk. He had to keep it as far away from Harry’s prying eyes as possible, at least until he could understand or trust the image that it had shown him. Harry was silent as he entered the room, not even bothering to change into pyjamas before he got into his bed.

“Night Draco.” He mumbled, almost as an afterthought as he drew his curtains shut.

“Goodnight,” Draco replied, glad Harry couldn’t see his furious blush, affected even by the most innocent of exchanges. Despite the slight awkwardness that lingered in the air between them, both way too aware of what the other had been doing and too intent on acting as though nothing had happened, they fell into an easy sleep.

Both dreamt of the other.

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

It took Draco a couple of moments to realise where he was. His surroundings were dark and his eyes took a couple of seconds to adjust to the dim lighting. He was in that house, Harry's house. The former headquarters of the order of the phoenix. And he wasn’t alone. Harry stood in front of him, shirtless, black boxers resting low on his hips, glasses slightly askew and hair messier than usual. Draco blinked a couple of times, taking another few seconds to realise that he was lying on top of satin sheets, in the same state of undress as the man above him.

“Are you going to let me take you?” Harry’s voice was lower than Draco had ever heard it, tone more seductive than he thought the other man would ever be able to pull off. It sent a shiver down his spine and he found himself nodding, despite his confusion as to how he’d got in this position. Harry smirked, clearly having anticipated Draco’s answer. He sat down on the bed, pulling Draco into his lap with great ease, manoeuvring Draco so that he was straddling his hips.

“Harry.” Draco's breath hitched and he found himself gasping the others name despite his best efforts, painfully aware of how thin a barrier was between them. Harry’s fingers dipped under Draco’s chin, tilting his head up, forcing eye contact.

“Show me how much you want it?” Draco was usually proud of his self-control but, no sooner had Harry’s words left his lips all of his pride and self-restraint went out of the window. He crashed their lips together, desperate and eager to prove himself. For a moment Harry didn’t kiss back, giving Draco the illusion of control but eventually, he took over, strong hands gripping Draco’s narrow hips as he dominated the kiss. Draco couldn’t get enough, hips rocking down against Harry’s as he let the other man lick into his mouth. He couldn’t silence his soft whimpers even if he wanted to. They kissed for what felt like an age, Draco’s hands tangling into Harry’s hair as Harry gripped him hard enough to leave fingerprint bruises on his waist. But, when Harry pulled away it still felt like it was over too soon. Ordinarily, Draco would have been able to handle a few moments of separation but, for some reason, even just a second apart had him whining low in the back of his throat, tugging on Harry’s wild curls as he tried to crash their lips together again. Harry just smirked, shaking his head slowly.

“So needy.” His tone was soft, even this breathless as he was still keen to give his praise. Draco preened. He didn’t need a mirror to know his cheeks were flushed, lips bruised, eyes more than a little glassy with lust. Just as he was about to beg for more Harry’s grip on his hips tightened and, Draco found himself being flipped, pinned to the bed with Harry hovering over him. The other reached for the bedside table, ignoring Draco’s pleading whine at the lack of contact, grabbing what Draco soon realised was his wand. Silently, still focused intently on Draco, Harry vanished their underwear, leaving them both naked.

“Please.” Draco found himself begging, doing his best to maintain eye contact, not daring to look down between them and see Harry in all his glory. Harry smirked, pressing a chaste kiss to Draco’s lips before waving his wand again. A strange cold sensation between his legs followed by the fleeting feeling of pins and needles told Draco that Harry had magically prepped him.

“So good for me,” Harry whispered against Draco’s neck, licking a stripe up the column of the blondes throat, nipping gently at his skin and creating a small trail of love bites. “You gonna let me fuck you?”

“Please, Harry, please fuck me.” Draco had never wanted anything more. Never needed something so much. He begged without any shame, tugging at Harry’s hair once more as if to spur him on.

“You sure?” Harry teased, reaching a hand between them to line himself up with Draco’s entrance.

“Please Harry, please.” Draco nodded, barely able to contain himself. A small smirk spread over Harry’s lips and he slowly pushed himself in, bottoming out despite Draco’s slightly pained whimpers.

\- - - - - - - - - -

“Malfoy, get up or we’re going to be late!” A faraway voice distracted Draco from the feeling of Harry filling him up. He did his best to block it out but the voice was persistent, calling his name several times, killing the moment and breaking him out of his dream.

“Fuck, what.” He groaned lowly, hands moving to press over his ears as the shouting continued.

“It’s morning, you need to get up or we’ll miss breakfast.” Draco opened his eyes reluctantly, blinking a couple of times in order to adjust his vision to the brightness. He was back in his dorm. In fact, he’d never left the dorm. He’d been dreaming. Vividly dreaming but dreaming none the less.”Up, now, or I’ll hex you!”

“I am, I am!” He snapped back, running a hand through his hair and stretching out. Thankfully his curtains were still drawn and so there was no risk of Harry seeing the state of arousal he was still in. Slowly he got out of bed, grabbing his robes from on top of his dresser and half running to the small bathroom. He showered quickly, dressed even quicker and managed to simultaneously do his hair and brush his teeth. In short, he was ready in record time. Something he found especially impressive, given the fact his mind was still racing. At least Harry seemed none the wiser, tapping his foot impatiently with his school bag already over his shoulder.

“Sleep well?” The dark-haired boy asked as Draco finished up lacing his shoes and grabbed his own book bag. Draco just about managed to nod, hoping Harry would overlook the flush that spread over his cheeks.

“Yup.” He popped the p, following Harry out of the dorm and to the great hall. “What's with the rush this morning anyway? You never normally mind if we’re late for breakfast.” He was surprised when Harry groaned heavily.

“McGonagall is announcing the head boy and head girl” And ah, that made sense. “Hermione sent her owl to let me know, half pecked me to death before I woke up and then it fucked off to go wake Ron too. You know what she’s like, she’d have our heads if we were late.” Draco nodded along. He would never admit it out loud (partially because he didn’t need to) but Hermione could be quite terrifying when she wanted to be. He really didn’t want to find out what would happen if any of them were late to what she clearly deemed the most important morning of the academic year. Thankfully, upon reaching the great hall it seemed that most students had got the memo to arrive to breakfast promptly and McGonagall was already making her way towards the podium at the centre of the stage. They weren’t late but they were certainly cutting it close. Draco supposed that they sort of deserved the reproachful glare Hermione gave them as they took their seats but thankfully the witch seemed too nervous to actually comment.

“So, without any further ado as I have already kept you waiting long enough.” McGonagall began, looking over the rim of her spectacles and immediately silencing the hum of sleepy conversation filling the hall. “I am pleased to finally be able to announce your head boy and girl for the remainder of the academic year. Please join me in congratulating Hermione Granger, your head girl and Blaise Zabini, your head boy. The competition was stiff and I’m sure I don’t need to explain how highly regarded both positions are but I am more than confident that these two pupils are most suited to their roles. Hermione and Blaise if you could come to my office this lunchtime to be fully briefed on your positions but, for now, you may remain with the rest of the student body and enjoy your breakfast.” Draco couldn’t lie, everything after Blaises’ name was lost on him. That was more than a little bit unexpected. Then again, as far as former Slytherins went, Blaise was certainly well reformed and Draco was sure that his lack of dark mark had influenced the decision ever so slightly. McGonagall must have known Harry would never have taken the position and, realised that Ron was far from competent enough to take it on.

“Congrats.” He gave a furiously red, suspiciously teary-eyed Hermione a curt nod before turning his attention to buttering his toast. Unfortunately, before he could tuck into his highly anticipated breakfast, Blaise appeared by his side.

“Draco.” The man grinned down at him, resting a hand on his shoulder. Draco found himself fighting the urge to shrug it off, squirming slightly in his seat.

“Blaise, well done.” He did his best to sound sincere, smiling politely up at the man. It was strange how little of an effect the man's proximity was having on him. A few days ago had Blaise approached him like this he would have been an embarrassed mess.

“Thanks, definitely took me by surprise, I didn’t think I stood a chance.” Blaise grinned even wider, not noticing the distinct awkwardness of Draco’s body language. “What do you say to coming to celebrate with me tonight?”

“You’re forgetting that Draco has to stick with me.” Harry’s drawl interrupted Draco before he even had the chance to think of an excuse. The grin on Blaise’s face shifted to a sickeningly sweet smile.

“You’ve already seen the worst of what can happen between us, I want to shag him not run away with him.” He quipped, mimicking the bored tone of Harry’s voice easily and pretending to inspect the nails of the hand that wasn’t holding Draco’s shoulder in a firm grip. Draco didn’t need to look at Harry to know that he was glaring, focusing intently on his now cold piece of toast. Unfortunately, Harry didn’t seem to have a response to that and so once against Blaise’s attention was solely on Draco. He sighed heavily, breaking his gaze away from his plate and looking up at Blaise with what he hoped was an apologetic expression.

“I already agreed to celebrate with Hermione.” He said as sweetly as he could manage, hoping his words came across as genuine. Blaise almost immediately frowned.

“And you’d rather do that than spend time with me?” The incredulous tone of his voice was more than a little bit annoying. Draco had forgotten how arrogant Blaise could be at times.

“Well I already agreed so I can hardly say no now, plus I can’t risk getting caught without Harry and being carted off to Azkaban.” Blaise scoffed, dropping Draco’s should as if it had burnt him.

“Your loss.” He muttered, turning on his heel and flouncing away. If Draco sighed a sigh of relief then that was his business. Shaking his shoulder a little, as if to rid himself of the trace of Blaise’s touch, Draco reached for another piece of toast, managing a bite before the intensity of Harry’s gaze distracted him once more.

“What?” He mumbled through a half-full mouth. Was it really too much to ask to be able to eat his breakfast in peace?

“We haven’t even talked about how we’re gonna celebrate, you could have gone with Blaise if you really wanted” Draco groaned loudly. Harry really did need to make his mind up when it came to enforcing the rules of their deal.

“Not worth the effort of trying to persuade you to allow it. You may be getting soft on me but I know how much you hate him.” He mumbled, swallowing his mouthful. “Plus, I guess I’m just not that interest anymore.” He missed the startled look on Harry’s face, too busy finishing off his toast and getting himself a cup of tea. “Is that ok?” He looked up as he stirred his sugar. Harry immediately nodded, strangely enthusiastic but Draco put it down to shock.

“That's perf- I mean, that's fine.” Draco raised an eyebrow as Harry stumbled over his words but didn’t challenge it. He was too busy trying to stop his internal panic. Why was he suddenly so disinterested in Blaise? Why was the idea of spending time with Harry so much more appealing?

“So, party in the room of requirement?” Were words he never thought would leave Hermione’s mouth but sure enough they did, breaking him out of his trance. Even Harry and Ron looked startled.

“Sure,” Ron answered with a wide grin. Harry nodded his response as Ron looked at him expectantly, halfway through a bite of his apple and choosing not to talk with his mouthful.

“Draco?” Hermione startled Draco once again by directly addressing him. She wore the same expectant look that Ron had.

“Yeah, sure.” Draco agreed, shrugging nonchalantly.

It wasn’t as if he could refuse now that he’d blown Blaise off in favour of spending time with the golden trio.

Plus, he did have to stay with Harry at all times.

Parties were not an exception to the rules regarding his freedom.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> I've had some questions about Draco's sex life (rightly so as I haven't been hugely consistent - having written 10 chapters of this two years ago) so for clarity, until he slept with Blaise he was a virgin and, any parts that said otherwise have now been edited.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please do give kudos and comments, they really encourage me

Draco hadn’t been expecting much from the party. 

Not just because most of the attendees be Gryfinndors. It was, after all, Hermione’s party. She didn’t exactly strike him as the partying type. He’d expected nothing more than a small group of Hermione’s friends, a couple of bottles of butterbeer and a relatively early night. 

He couldn’t have been more wrong. 

By the time the clock struck ten, the party was in full swing, the common room full of dancing bodies. Everyone he could see had at least one bottle of butterbeer in clenched in their fists and, if he wasn’t mistaken, some were even passing around a hip flask of firewhiskey. Further, the guests definitely weren’t limited to Hermione’s nearest and dearest. It seemed most of their year group had decided to join in the celebration, grateful for the opportunity to let their hair down. Whether that be literally or figuratively. Hell, he’d even spotted Blaise sulking in a corner, his arm wrapped around some Ravenclaw girl. He’d left almost the moment Draco noticed him, bringing the girl with him but Draco couldn’t bring himself to care. For the first time, he actually felt as though he was welcome. Sure, that could just be a side effect of the butterbeer he’d drank a lot quicker than he should have, given how long it had been since he last had alcohol, but he tried not to think about that. For now, he was content to enjoy the fuzzy warmth in the pit of his stomach and the way people weren’t flinching away from him as he danced happily amongst them. Despite the fact Harry was still following his every move, expression unreadable, he hadn’t felt so free in a long time. 

“Draco.” Speaking, or rather thinking of the devil, Harry’s voice snapped him out of his happy daydream. 

“Harry.” He replied with a smile, raising his bottle to the man happily. For a moment, just a moment, Potter almost looked endeared. 

“I’m cutting you off now.” The dark-haired man warned, laughing as Draco pouted heavily and easily taking the bottle out of his hand. 

“Spoilsport.” Draco huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Harry as if the man had personally attacked him. Once again Harry laughed, shaking his head.

“You look cute when you pout.” He said through his chuckling, catching Draco off guard. He at least had the decency to blush when he realised the casual intimacy of his statement. For a moment they just stood facing one another, unsure of how to proceed. It was Draco who broke the silence, filled with liquid courage as a result of his drinking. 

“Yeah?” He spoke teasingly, voice low as he took a couple of steps forward, moving his lips to Harry's ear. It wouldn’t do to be overheard and plus, he could have more fun if he increased their proximity.“Only when I pout?” He let his lips graze Harry’s skin, smirking a little when the other man shivered in response. As he stepped back he faked innocence, biting his lip between his teeth. The breath was nearly knocked out of him when he noticed how Harry’s eyes had darkened, his gaze so heavy Draco couldn’t help but squirm. 

“I think we should go back to the dorm, you’ve had too much to drink,” Harry muttered. The edge to his voice betrayed his true intentions. He just wanted to get Draco alone and, for some reason, Draco was more than ok with that idea. Playfully he saluted Harry, allowing the man to grab him by the wrist and drag him through the crowd. They said goodbye to Hermione and Ron, Draco deliberately exaggerating the slight sway in his steps but honestly, his acting was wasted. Hermione was way more focused on Ron, half straddling his lap, their lips practically glued together. Eventually, Harry got the hint and, still holding onto Draco’s wrist, left his friends to it. 

“What's the rush.” Draco taunted as Harry proceeded to drag him through the crowd once more, making a beeline for the staircase to their dorm room. Part of him was tempted to drag his feet, deliberately delay them just to frustrate Harry but his desire to get the other man alone was stronger than his desire to play with him. Harry didn’t respond until they had reached the safety of their dorm, growling slightly and pinning Draco to their bedroom door. 

“You’re such a fucking cock tease.” His rough whisper sent a shiver down Draco’s spine and, had he not been pressed against a solid surface, he wasn’t convinced his knees would have been able to hold him up. 

“How's that?” He replied, batting his eyelashes a couple of times for added effect. Harry groaned, licking over his lips and forcing his knee between Draco’s thighs, so close to his crotch but so far simultaneously. 

“I think you know.” He took a moment to find his voice, lips grazing Draco’s ear, mimicking Draco’s actions from the common room. “Dancing around like that, looking so fucking blissful and pretty.” Pretty. That was new. That was unexpectedly hot.

“So what are you going to do about it?” Draco whined, meeting Harry’s intense gaze and smiling coyly. He was caught off guard once more as Harry ran a hand through his hair, smoothing It gently before gripping a fistful of it harshly, causing Draco to hiss. He didn’t pull away though. Another unexpectedly hot development. 

“Well, first I’m going to make you make it up to me but, if you’re lucky, I might give you what you so obviously want.” 

“What do I want?” Once again Draco feigned innocence, keeping hiss tone as coy as he could manage. Harry paused a moment, releasing Draco’s hair and moving the same hand to his cheek, thumb brushing over his lips tenderly. 

“I think you want me.” He replied, confident as ever. “Do you?” And Draco found himself nodding, eagerly, eagerly fucking nodding. He’d never wanted anything more. “I asked you a question,” Harry warned, bringing Draco back to reality temporarily. 

“Yeah, I do.” He answered hurriedly. Harry just smirked, moving back from Draco and sitting down on the edge of his bed.

“Get between my legs and suck me off then, just like you did for Blaise. Were you thinking of me then? Is that why you chose my bed?” Draco whimpered, shaking his head as he did as he was told, getting to his knees and moving his hands to unbuckle the other man's belt. “Don’t lie to me,” Harry replied, harshly, lifting his hips to allow Draco to pull his jeans down below his knees. “I bet you wanted me to find you like that? Did you think I’d join in, use your little mouth too?” 

And fuck, where was this coming from? 

He didn’t peg Harry for the dominant kind. Or the dirty talking kind for that matter either. Draco let out a low whine, scrabbling to get Harry’s boxers down too. For some reason, all he wanted was to get Harry in his mouth, to give the other man pleasure. He couldn’t even blame the butterbeer at this point. He’d definitely sobered up, lust replacing the alcohol in his veins. He looked up through his eyelashes, giving Draco a coy little smile before taking the man into his mouth. The moan the dark-haired man let out caused butterflies to erupt in his stomach. There was something so satisfying about being the cause of that noise. To Draco’s relief, it didn’t take long for Harry to take control of the situation. Although he was somewhat confident in his skills, the low moans leaving the others lips evidence enough of his pleasure, he was still inexperienced. Harry’s hands tangled into Draco’s hair, using his tight grip as leverage as he began to thrust up into Draco’s mouth. Draco gagged slightly but didn’t pull back, determined to be good, determined to give the other as much pleasure as possible. He didn’t pull back until tears pricked in the corner of his eyes and the need to breathe outweighed his desire to get Harry off. Harry moved one hand out of Draco’s hair, cupping his cheek and rubbing it encouragingly as he caught his breath. The silent praise would have made his knees weak had he not been leaning on them. He quickly resumed his actions, moaning around the man's length as the other continued to fuck up into his mouth. Eventually, Harry stopped him, pushing him off of his length and placing a strangely tender kiss on Draco’s forehead. 

“Undress, now please.” He directed firmly. Draco nodded obediently, getting up off his knees shakily and slipping out of his clothes as quickly as possible. Harry followed his example, removing the rest of his clothes. Once they were both naked Draco found himself being pulled into Harry’s lap, the other man using his knees to guide Draco’s legs apart, forcing the blonde to straddle him. Draco whined low in his throat at the gesture and leant into Harry’s touch, grinding his hips down against the other man as he gained some confidence. Harry groaned, surging forward and pressing an almost bruising kiss to the column of Draco's throat. “I’m going to prep you magically, ok?” 

“Yeah.” Harry reached for his wand, flipping Draco over onto his back before mumbling a couple of words. A strange tingling sensation washed over Draco but he was quickly distracted by the other man's lips on his. They kissed, hard, before Harry pulled back and mumbled another spell, one Draco vaguely remembered as a protective spell. For a moment the darker haired man paused, taking a second to appreciate the body of the blonde beneath him. Draco blushed under his gaze, spreading his legs as if to encourage Harry to get moving. 

Harry’s trance broke.

“You gonna let me fuck you now?” He said simply.

“Yes, please.” Draco nodded, wrapping his legs around Harry’s waist as a means of encouraging him to hurry up. Even in his lust addled state, he was vaguely aware of the parallels the short exchange had with the dream he’d had the night before. Harry smirked and again, just as he had in the dream, lined himself up, pushing into Draco slowly and bottoming out. Draco’s hands almost immediately went to Harry’s back, digging his nails into Harry’s flesh as he tried to adjust to the burn. It took him a few moments, thighs trembling despite being wrapped around Harry’s waist. Eventually, the dull burn subsided, giving way to an intense need for more. The trail of tender kisses Harry was creating along his neck helping to coax Draco into relaxing.

“Please.” He managed to gasp, voice already sounding fucked. All concern for his pride gone as he clung to Harry’s as if his life depended on it. Harry smirked once more. 

“What was that?” He replied, taunting, staying completely still. 

“Fuck me. Please, please Harry.” Draco all but shouted, his desire outweighing all the concerns he had about coming across as too needy. The smirk didn’t leave Harry's face as he slowly, oh so slowly, moved his hips back before snapping them forward, immediately setting a brutal pace and fucking Draco hard into the mattress. Draco cried out, hardly recognising the pitchy moans that filled the air between them as his own. His nails scraped down the length of Harry’s back as he tightened the grip of his legs around the man's waist, mouth falling into an o shape.

“Look at you.” Harry panted, not slowing the movement of his hips. “Such a slut for me aren’t you?” Draco barely managed a nod, hands leaving Harry’s back and gripping at the bedsheets behind his head. He whined high as Harry hit that spot inside of him, sending sparks shooting through his spine. 

“Oh fuck.” He mewled, back arching off the bed involuntarily. Harry couldn’t hold back a moan of his own, focusing on continuously hitting that same spot, watching with dark eyes as Draco came undone below him. Relentless in his efforts to get the blonde man off he slipped a hand between their bodies, taking Draco’s cock in his hand and jerking him off in synch with the movements of his hips. “Harry, f-fuck.”

“You gonna cum?” Harry encouraged, grinning as Draco managed to nod. “Yeah? Come on, come on baby.” Almost the moment the word ‘baby’ left Harry’s lips Draco was coming, keening loudly as he did so. Harry followed soon after, riding out his orgasm before collapsing on the bed beside Draco, their bodies still intertwined. 

“Cleaning spell?” Draco mumbled once he’d caught his breath, sticky with sweat and his own cum. 

“Definitely,” Harry responded, whispering a short incantation, waving his wand somewhat lazily over both Draco and his bed. As he did so Draco waved his own wand, summoning them each a pair of boxers and slipping into his. Without thinking, or asking Harry, he got beneath the other man's covers, suddenly exhausted. To his mild surprise, Harry didn’t comment on it. Rather, he followed Draco’s example and pulled the blonde into his chest. 

“Goodnight, Harry,” Draco mumbled, closing his eyes. Part of him hoped to fall asleep before either of them could slip out of their hazed, post-orgasm state. 

“Goodnight.” 

They both ended up oversleeping. Not only had they both forgotten to set their alarms before they drifted off, but they had also found a surprising amount of comfort sleeping in one another’s arms. Of course, Draco would only say so if he was tortured but something about Harry’s embrace had resulted in him having the best nights sleep he could actually remember. Unfortunately, despite them sleeping for longer than they could afford they were still woken up much too soon. Ron had taken it upon himself to stand in for the alarms they’d failed to set, knocking on their bedroom door way too loudly.

“Harry, Malfoy!” He shouted, startling Draco awake. The blonde blinked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. For a moment he was confused, not understanding why he was on the wrong side of the room but eventually, everything came back to him. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to freak out as Ron continued to shout. “You’ve got about ten minutes to get ready or you’re gonna be late for potions.” Groaning Draco immediately sprung into action, practically jumping out of the bed and pulling his robes on as quickly as he could physically manage. It took Harry considerably longer to get up and, even when he began getting ready he moved with considerably less urgency than Draco. 

“Potter.” Draco snapped between brushing hair and casting a spell to clean his teeth. “Hurry up, we can’t be late,” Harry mumbled something intelligible but, despite his obvious reluctance, he picked up the pace, scrambling into his robes. Following Draco’s example, he used magic to clean his teeth, muttering several extra spells to wash his face and straighten his uniform whilst Draco did both manually. In almost alarming synchronicity the two grabbed their school bags, slipped on their shoes and left the room, joining Ron in the hallway. Draco snorted when he caught sight of the red-haired man, taking in his more dishevelled than usual appearance and the number of love bites marking his neck. 

“Good night then?” Harry chuckled, equally as amused but his laughter stopped the moment he saw the strange way Ron was staring at Draco. “What?” He asked before Draco had a chance to. Ron just raised an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s just Malfoy has a little…” He paused for a moment, as if what he was about to say pained him. “Well, hickey.” Draco felt his eyes practically bulge out of his head as his hand slapped against his neck as if the mark was something he’d be able to feel. 

“I got…caught up with Blaise.” The lie was rushed, not quite as believable as he would like following his initial reaction but thankfully Ron seemed convinced, dropping the matter and heading down the stairs with Harry at his heels. In order to avoid further questioning, and the risk of overhearing Ron recounting how he and Hermione had spent the night Draco paused for a moment, casting a spell to conceal the mark on his neck. He was somewhat relieved that Ron had pointed it out, knowing if Blaise noticed it then he’d have a number of difficult questions to answer. The thought alone had him gulping audibly. He took a deep breath, doing his best to nip that train of thought in the bud before running to catch up with the other two men. Even when he’d successfully diverted his attention, forcing himself to focus what they would be having for lunch, he couldn’t seem to shake the army of nervous butterflies in his stomach. Much to his annoyance, it took almost the whole journey to the dungeons to realise the significance of said butterflies. Today was the day they would get their essays back. Today he would find out what standard the potions professor was going to hold him to.   
He wasn’t very hopeful.

“Draco, keep up!” Harry called over his shoulder, snapping him out of his anxiety fuelled daydream. Draco swallowed, shaking his head and quickening his pace, closing the gap between himself and Harry. The dark-haired man gave him a slightly concerned look but said nothing as they stepped into the classroom, their papers already lying on their respective desks. Draco gulped, barely managing to conceal his stress as he sat down next to Harry, throwing his bag down haphazardly before turning his paper over. There was no point delaying anything. It was definitely best to rip the bandage off. 

“Fuck.” He whispered, staring at the large O that emblazoned the top of his paper. That was more than a little bit unexpected. Harry peered over his shoulder, grinning when he noticed the bright red letter.

“I told you I wouldn’t let them fuck with you.” He teased a little before turning over this own paper, grin immediately faltering. Draco frowned as he watched the reaction, peeking over Harry’s shoulder before the man had the chance to hide his paper away. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but it definitely wasn’t a P for Poor. 

“How much did you rely on that book?” He questioned, voice a hushed whisper as he snatched the essay off of the man, immediately scanning it for errors. Although he did his best to keep his expression neutral he couldn’t help but whistle lowly as he noticed the man's main mistake.

“More than a lot,” Harry answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Did you even know who wrote it?” Draco groaned as Harry shook his head, placing his own head in his hands. “You know how stupid that is right?” This time Harry nodded, expression still sheepish. Although Draco didn’t think he would ever understand how someone who had encountered so much dark magic could so blindly trust something that had so much potential to be dangerous he couldn’t bring himself to stay mad, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Guess we need to do a lot more tutoring than we initially thought then.” He sighed, sitting up straight as the professor walked in and turning his attention to his notes. It was never normally difficult for him to focus on potions, given his passion for the subject but, for some reason he found his mind wandering. The perception he’d had of Harry before the war was so wrong it was almost comical to him now. He’d resented the man heavily, assuming blindly that his golden boy status applied to his school performance also. Of course, now he thought about it, Harry was always busy saving the world or defeating Voldemort. There was no way that hadn’t significantly limited the amount of time he could spend studying. 

“Something funny?” Harry’s voice startled Draco, causing him to blush. He’d been too lost in his train of thought to realise that he’d been grinning to himself. Swallowing his smile he shook his head, doing his best to turn his attention back to his notes. It didn’t take long for him to give up, scribbling a note in the margin of his page to self-study the subject matter of that letter. 

Clearly sleeping with Harry had fucked with his head more than he thought it would.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Description of use of the cruciatus curse and brief mentions of child abuse (aka Lucius Malfoy being a twat)
> 
> I haven't grammar checked this because I'm a terrible human so I'm sorry if it reads awfully. Also everything in italics is a memory of Draco's, I really struggled with how to write Draco+Harry watching Dracos memories so I hope it isn't too confusing. Kudos and comments are hugely appreciated, as also and thank you all for being so supportive with my snail pace writing.

They fell into something of a routine following the first night they spent in one another’s arms.

It had barely taken a week for them to reach the point where any outsider, unaware of real reason they were constantly in one another’s presence, would think them best friends. Somehow one night of intimacy had been more effective in terms of resolving the tension and rivalry between them than the numerous months they’d spent in one another’s presence. Draco did his best to not think about it too much, choosing blissful ignorance over any sort of exploration of his feelings towards Harry. The last thing he wanted was to complicate the matter even further by suggesting they address the elephant in the room and, to his relief Harry seemed all too happy to adopt the same approach. So, in the name of continued ignorance, neither of them spoke about that night.

Or any of the following nights.

Try as they had to resist the pull of one another’s arms it was clear almost from the morning after the first night that this would never simply be a one time thing. That would have been too easy. So, once again, the evidence supporting Draco’s theory that the world had a grudge against him was building up. Each night drifting off to the rhythmic beating of Harry’s heart, each morning waking up to find their limbs entangled, every shared smile or inside joke cracked during a tutoring session. In short, it was getting harder and harder for Draco to prioritise his ignorance. Some part of him was dying to find out what the fuck was going on, even if doing so would shatter their new found peace. It seemed like the easier and more natural things became between them the more and more questions he was left with. Still, if there was one thing Draco was good at it was keeping quiet and carrying on. He’d had more than enough practice and, thankfully, this was much less of a life or death situation. Although, he had quickly discovered that Harry was beyond the point of being hopelessly unskilled when it came to making potions. He was actually dangerously bad without his book to guide him and so, in reality, there was still some mortal danger keeping Draco on his toes. They’d had around 5 lessons and so far each lesson had produced at least 2 messy situations that required Draco’s immediate intervention and resulted in Harry looking almost proud of the chaos he’d nearly caused. It had taken 2 lessons for Draco to give up on the idea that Harry had any level of natural talents hidden deep within himself. Despite what his 6th year performance would suggest potion making was not a talent of the boy who lived. Therefore, very quickly, Draco’s goal had changed. Now the sole purpose of the tutoring sessions was to help Harry build up an artificial skill set. He didn’t think Harry would ever reach the point where he could craft a potion without a recipe or come up with something himself but they could certainly refine the basics to allow him to follow instructions a little better.

However, there was a second obstacle to their progress.

Try as they might they had not yet made it through a single lesson without stopping early to make out and/or grope one another. Sure, they had the benefit of sharing a room, meaning they benefited from a great deal of alone time but that wasn’t quite enough for either of them. To say they were insatiable, taking full advantage of their new arrangement, was an understatement. And, as exasperated as Draco may have pretended to be a large part of him was hoping that Harry would need tutoring for a great deal longer. Of course he had to remain glued to the mans side regardless but, when tutoring, things almost felt normal. When teaching he was Harry’s equal, sometimes even his superior, a far cry from his position the moment they were around others. It was refreshing, to say the least, to have someone truly appreciate his talent for the subject. No matter how frustrated Harry may get with Draco attempting to drill minuscule detail into his head, he never really complained, always giving Draco the impression that his knowledge was respected. Still, it was quite the relief when Harry finally began to prove that he wasn’t entirely unteachable. As much as Draco wanted Harry to keep needing his assistance this selfishness was, thankfully, outweighed by his desire to help Harry excel. He couldn’t let the man make him look like a bad teacher and he’d be damned if he let Harry doubt his skill in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately, it seemed Harry had expected to progress a little further than he actually had and so, in the name of good teaching and not failing to meet expectations Draco enforced a strict no distractions rule.

Or tried to anyway.

“Draco?” Draco looked up from the book he was reading, frowning when he noticed Harry had barely even begun preparing the ingredients for the draught of peace he was supposed to be tackling. They’d both agreed it was time to let Harry take on a position with minimal guidance, in order to truly assess how far he had come.

“Struggling already?” Draco replied, raising an eyebrow and setting his book down. He hadn’t expected the man to get stuck so early on, compared to some of the work they’d been doing in their actual N.E.W.T classes the draught of peace was very basic. For a moment Harry seemed to pout but he stopped seemingly the moment he realised what he was doing.

“No, idiot.” He scoffed defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. “I just…I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go on.” Draco drawled his response, one eyebrow still slightly raised. The slightly pink flush to Harry’s cheeks was intriguing to say the least. Whatever the man wanted to ask him certainly didn’t relate to potions. Harry was silent for a moment, presumably trying to find the right words if his fidgeting was anything to go off of. If there was one thing Draco had learnt over the past weeks it was that Harry’s body language almost always gave him away completely. Once you really focused in he was a bit of an open book. It really was no wonder he’d been so shit at occlumency.

“Um, well, it’s Christmas soon, right?” He began, sounding rather uncertain of himself.

“I really did think the boy who lived could at least read a calendar.” The blonde couldn’t help but tease. “But yes, Christmas is soon.” Harry fidgeted some more, seemingly fascinated with the cuff of his sweater.

“Well, you’re coming to the Weasleys, right?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. Unless you’re planning on staying somewhere else? We are kind of stuck together still.” For a moment Draco was genuinely concerned that Harry might have hit his head at some point during the night. Why else would he be asking questions with such obvious answers?

“Of course I am.” Harry blurted, cheeks turning an intense shade of red. “I just…what I’m trying to ask is, would you maybe consider showing me the memory you made me give the Weasleys before we go back? Obviously we trust each other a lot more and it feels sort of strange spending so much time with you and not knowing. Plus, Mrs Weasley tends to get super emotional after a few firewhiskeys and I don’t want her accidentally telling me something you haven’t shown me yourself, I’d feel like I was going behind your back or something.” Draco listened, slightly amused as Harry babbled on. It was obvious he’d been thinking this over for quite some time and even more obvious that he’d worked himself up into a right fuss over it. Truth be told Draco was surprised he hadn’t asked sooner, given how close they’d grown and how nosey the other man was.

“Harry? Shut up.” He eventually interrupted the mans rambling, sighing in relief when Harry actually did as he was told and stopped talking. “I’ll show you the memories.” Harry blinked a couple of times before frowning.

“Now?” He practically squeaked, eyes widening to the point he actually resembled a surprised frog. The thought had Draco struggling to hold back laughter, something that seemed to confuse Harry further. “Wait, were you joking?”

“No you idiot.” The blonde rolled his eyes dramatically. “I will show you, just not now. You’re not getting out of making this potion that easily.”

“Dick, I thought you were mocking me.” Harry pouted.

“I was.” Draco quipped, giving Harry a dazzling smile before picking up his book again. “Now for the love of Merlin get on with that potion so I can figure out whether or not this is a complete waste of my time.” For a moment Harry looked ready to object but, upon seeing the stern glare that had replaced Draco’s smile, he seemed to change his mind, turning his attention back to cauldron. Draco watched for a few minutes, noting the crease in Harry’s brow as he read through his instructions and the way his tongue poked out between his lips as he tried to concentrate. Eventually he managed to pull his eyes away from the other man and half heartedly returned to his reading. Despite his best efforts he struggled to focus. As much as he may have played it off like it was nothing the thought of showing Harry his memory was daunting, to say the least.

He couldn’t help but worry that it might change the mans entire opinion of him.

— — — — — — — —

_“Draco!”_

_A much younger, smaller Draco burst through his bedroom door, slamming it hard behind him and all but diving to hide under the bed. The unmistakable voice of Lucius Malfoy filled the room, clearly magically amplified and the steady pace of his footsteps echoed in the hallway. Younger Draco cowered where he hid as the footsteps stopped outside of his room, small hands moving to cover his mouth in an effort to stop himself from whimpering out loud._

_“Draco Malfoy, you have two seconds.” Despite being just outside the door Lucius maintained the same volume, his voice filling every corner of the room, ringing through Draco and Harry’s heads almost painfully. Draco swallowed as his younger self made no effort to move, closing his eyes tightly. True to his word Lucius waited outside for two seconds before storming in, moving the boys bed away with a swish of his wand, eyes narrowing as they locked on the boys quivering form._

_“Da-dad please.” Draco pleaded, moving his hands away from his mouth and covering his eyes instead. “I was just curious.” Lucius laughed, a sick sort of chuckle, magically forcing Draco to stand._

_“What have I told you about Harry Potter?” He spat, eyes flashing dangerously._

_“H-He stopped the Dark Lord, he sent us into hiding.” Draco stuttered, looking down at his feet, head bowed. Lucius smirked, crouching in front of his son, gripping the boys chin harshly in his hand and forcing him to make eye contact._

_“Good. Now, as a servant of the Dark Lord, should you be reading comics about that filthy half-blood? Should you be admiring anyone but your Lord?” He sneered, not loosening his grip._

_“N-No dad.” The boy mumbled, squirming under the intense eye contact. For a moment Lucius looked pleased, releasing Draco’s face and standing up. He made to turn away but seemed to change his mind halfway through doing so, spinning back on his heel and slapping the young boy hard, causing him to fall to the floor._

_“Remember what I’ve told you Draco, you will serve him when he returns and he will not tolerate your childish insolence. I will not let you bring shame on our family name”_

Draco did his best to ignore Harry, keeping his eyes glued on the younger version of himself. He didn’t need to look at the other man to know that he was frowning at the door Lucius had just exited from. He didn’t want to make eye contact, not quite ready for the other mans pity. It was much easier to watch himself, to focus on his crying. It was weird, to think there was a time where his fathers actions had held such power over him, given how numb to them he now was and, although he’d lived this memory over and over again it still made his chest constrict slightly. He still felt real, palpable fear as he heard his father shout. He was about to say something, clear the heavy air between him and Harry when the room began to spin around them, his childhood bedroom fading away into darkness as they travelled to Draco’s next memory.

— — —

_“Are you seriously telling me that Harry Potter chose to befriend a Weasley over you?” Once again they were greeted by the booming voice of Lucius Malfoy. This time however, he was communicating via floo network, his face twisting viciously in the green flames. Despite being in no physical danger Draco was trembling just as violently as he had been in the first memory, head bowed as he crouched in front of the fireplace. “You let a pair of blood traitors insult our family name, in public?”_

_“Why do I need to befriend him?” Young Draco lost his fight to bite his tongue, exasperation evidence in his tone. Both the boys watching the memory unfold flinched as the flames rose dangerously high, Lucius’ face contorting into an expression of pure rage._

_“Are you questioning me, boy?” He roared, paying no mind to the way the flames around him seemed close to spilling out into the common room._

_“N-No Dad.” Draco replied hastily, looking down at the floor once more. “It’s just, I don’t want to hang around with a blood traitor like him.” The fireplace version of Lucius laughed but there was no joy in it, a cold sort of noise almost as scary as his yelling._

_“You don’t have a choice, Draco and you’d do well to remember that. This was part of his plan, he’s not going to be happy to know that you have failed so early on”_

— — —

_“Lucius has failed me, Narcissa, Draco.” Voldemorts stretched out a pale hand, his skin contrasting the dark room so drastically he almost seemed to glow. He chuckled slightly and ran said hand through Narcissas hair, almost gently, as though she was some kind of pet, before gripping Draco’s shoulder firmly and pulling him up off of his knees.“Do I accept failures, Draco?”_

_“No Sir.” Despite the peril of his position Draco didn’t sound nervous. In fact, he was eerily calm, almost indifferent as he answered. Voldemort didn’t seem to appreciate his lack of impact, releasing Draco without warning and sending him crashing back onto the floor. Hushed laughter told Harry that this wasn’t happening in private, the other Death Eaters were in attendance also._

_“Now, ordinarily I would kill you and your mother right here, right now, just to teach your father a lesson.” Voldemort sneered, kicking Draco hard as the boy scrambled to get onto his knees once again. “But I’m feeling generous.” The crowd around them jeered, egging him on. “So lets make an agreement, Draco. I’m going to give you a task, and my mark, and if you complete it I won’t kill you and your mother. Do we have a deal?” More jeers and more laughter as Draco’s shoulders slumped, the first indication of his defeat._

_“I agree, my lord.” Draco spoke cooly and, had Harry not spent so much time around him he might have missed the slight wobble to his voice._

_“Please my lord, he is just a boy.” Narcissa spoke up, voice urgent, uncharacteristically panicked._

_“And yet he is so ready to be of service.” Voldemort sneered, gripping Narcissas hair once more and pulling on it harshly. “You would do well to remember not to speak out of turn, Narcissa. Lucius isn’t here to protect you anymore.”_

_“My lord, please, leave my mother alone and I will do your bidding.” Draco pleaded._

_“You will do my bidding anyway, Draco. You and your family are in no position to bargain with me.” Voldemort snapped, eyes flashing dangerously. “You will receive my mark tomorrow evening and you will be given your task shortly after now go, all of you are dismissed.”_

_— — —_

_“I can’t do it mum, it’s not possible.” Draco whimpered, crouched in front of yet another fireplace. This time, rather tan being in the Slytherin common room, they were clearly in the room of requirement. The piles of clutter around them were more than a bit of a give away. “He’s going to kill you, he’s going to kill us because I can’t do it.”_

_“Draco, darling, you can. You can do this. He wouldn’t have chosen you if he didn’t think you could get it done.” Narcissa replied, clearly trying to soothe her near hysterical son but she didn’t sound convincing. The tremor in her voice was poorly hidden and the flames shifted around her face in a way that made it look as though she was frowning. Draco shook his head, running his hands through his hair._

_“I’ve tried, I’ve tried and I’ve failed already.” He confessed, voice barely a whisper. “He’s set us up mum.” His voice cracked towards the end of his sentence and, as it did so, his resolve seemed to crack also. He burst into open sobs, body trembling with the force of them._

_“Draco, you need to go to Snape.” Narcissa eventually broke the silence, tone cautious. “He promised to help, he made a vow.”_

_“He’ll know though. He’ll know if I accept help and he’ll see it as cheating.” Draco replied, shaking his head. “There’s nothing Snape can do without putting us in even more danger. I don’t want to die mum, I didn’t want this mark, I don’t want his mark.”_

_“Snape can’t help physically, you’re right, but he can at least offer you ideas.” Narcissa responded, tone clipped. She was clearly trying not to acknowledge Draco’s wavering loyalty to their leader. “Please go to him, Draco. You need to go to him.” Again Draco shook his head but the way his shoulders slumped seemed to indicate concession._

_“Ok mum.” He agreed after another moment of silence, wiping tears away from his face. “I love you.”_

_— — —_

_“Hello, is somewhere there?”A female voice cut through the silence, startling Draco and almost causing him to slip on the stairs. He hated having to feed the prisoners, hated when their silencing charms wore off and they tried to plead with him._

_“Please be quiet.” He muttered, waving his wand so the trays of food he was levitating slid under the door. “Your food.”_

_“Draco Malfoy?” The same female voice sounded again, stopping him in his tracks. Usually it was easy to ignore them, he’d give them their food and run up the stairs as fast as his legs would allow but, usually they didn’t call him by name. “It’s Luna, Luna lovegood.”_

_“Luna?” Draco frowned, turning back to face the door. “How long have you been here?”_

_“N-not long. Where exactly is here, by the way?” There was something haunting about how sweet her voice was. Usually the women that were captured didn’t last long, Greyback almost always had his way with them and by the time he was done they weren’t really up for much talking._

_“Um, my basement. The basement of Malfoy Manor.” He replied sheepishly. “Are you hurt?”. Normally he wouldn’t ask. He knew fine well that it was reckless to get involved, reckless to even talk to the prisoners, but for some reason he didn’t care. For some reason Luna’s safety felt as though it was worth the risk._

_“Um, I think my leg is broken from when they dragged me down here.” Luna admitted, still sounding pleasantly matter of fact. “It is quite sore.” Draco nodded before realising she couldn’t see him and quickly summoned one of his potion vials, sliding it under the door like he had done with the tray._

_“I can’t fix it but if you drink the contents of the vial it should take the pain away.” He mumbled, not waiting around to hear her reply before he darted his way up the stairs._

_— — —_

_“Crucio!” Draco screamed in agony, writhing in pain, back arching up off of the stone floor as thousands of fiery needles penetrated his skin. “You lied Draco, you lied to us!”_

_“I didn’t, I didn’t lie.” Draco’s voice was strangled as he gasped for air in between waves of pain, still writhing uncontrollably as Bellatrix kept her wand pointed at him._

_“Oh but you did, Draco.” She sneered, dropping the curse for a moment, standing before the boys crumpled form. “You said you couldn’t tell if that was Potter or not. That was a lie, Draco.” The boy shook his head vigorously, doing his best to blink back his tears. It wouldn’t do to show his aunt any sign of weakness. She fed off of vulnerability, whether her victim be family or not._

_“I didn’t lie.” He repeated, almost trying to convince himself this time. She just laughed, cruelly, casting the curse once more, turning her back to him and singing as though to block out his screaming. He wasn’t sure how long she kept the curse on him. The time dragged almost as much now, as he watched, as it had whilst he experienced it. All he knew was had she have kept it up any longer he would have ended up like the Longbottoms, fractured to the point of no return. Thankfully, Bellatrix herself was teetering on the edge of madness at this point and, at just the right moment she grew bored. Draco waited until she was gone before allowing himself to sob, unable to do anything but curl into the foetal position, holding himself as he cried._

“Draco?” Harry spoke for the first time, grabbing his hand tightly. “Enough” Draco just nodded, tearing his eyes away from the image of his broken self and, with a wave of his wand, he cast the necessary incantation, returning them to their bedroom and to the present day.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for your patience

Draco swallowed, hard, doing his best to regulate his slightly panicked breathing as he watched Harry’s face carefully. The man hadn’t moved, much less said anything since they returned to their room and the present day. Almost ten minutes had passed now and, to say the silence was killing Draco wouldn’t necessarily be an overstatement. It certainly didn’t help that the man's expression wasn’t giving anything away, rendering Draco’s intense stare useless. Of course, Draco knew that Harry would need time to process everything that he had been shown but, he’d be lying if he said the suspense wasn’t making him jittery. The fact he’d been doubting whether or not it was a good idea to show Harry those moments of his life for a while before actually doing so wasn’t exactly helping him stay calm. He swallowed hard, rubbing his slightly sweaty palms on his trousers and allowing himself to look away from Harry for the first time. The longer the silence progressed the more convinced Draco was that he’d made a terrible mistake. All this time he’d been worried that Harry couldn’t be trusted with such an insight into his childhood and his experiences when he should have considered the effect his memories could have on Harry’s mental health. It was, after all, no secret that Harry’s muggle family had been far from caring. Maybe Draco’s memories had brought up aspects of his life that he’d been trying to forget. The guilt made Draco restless and, before he could stop himself, he was moving closer to Harry, nervously placing his hand on the man's thigh.

“H-Harry?” He began, mentally cursing the way his voice shook. “Are you ok?” For a moment it seemed as though Harry wasn’t going to answer, something that caused Draco’s stomach to twist uncomfortably but, the moment the blonde asked him if he was ok Harry snapped out of his trance. He looked incredulous as he whipped his head around, looking Draco straight in the eye. 

“Am I ok?” He asked, voice strangely hollow. “Draco, I’m fine, I’m just… I can’t believe how badly I treated you when you were going through all of that. I can’t believe how badly you were treated.” He laughed a humourless laugh, shaking his head and placing his head in his hands. Draco blinked a couple of times, mouth opening and closing in shock.

“Harry, don’t be so bloody stupid.” He eventually managed to choke out, guiding the man's head out of his hands. “I treated you just as badly, if not worse and how were you to know? We weren’t exactly friends.” 

“I should have realised that you were in pain too,” Harry muttered stubbornly, doing his best to not look Draco in the eye but the blonde wasn’t having it, gripping Harry’s cheeks and forcing him to make eye contact. 

“You’re a right idiot, you know Potter?” He replied fondly, shaking his head and resting his forehead against the other men. “I thought you were freaking out because I reminded you of something traumatic in your past, you had me convinced I’d fucked everything up.” 

“Really!?” Harry all but squeaked out, eyes widening to an almost comical level. “Oh Merlin, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just withdrawn like tha-“ Draco cut him off with a kiss, pressing their lips together firmly and silencing his rambling before it could progress any further. Once the other man relaxed into the embrace Draco pulled back, shaking his head fondly. 

“Stop.” He said calmly, gently, allowing his fingers to move from Harry’s cheeks and tangle into his hair. “There is one more memory I showed them but you don’t need to see it. I didn’t let them see the parts with you in but they saw the aftermath.” The regret that flashed through Harry’s eyes told Draco that the other understood what memory he was referring to so he didn’t push the matter any further, instead choosing to join their lips together again. They kissed until they were breathless, clinging to one another bodies and panting into each other's mouths.

“I’m so sorry, I hate that I did this to you,” Harry mumbled against Draco’s lips after he’d caught his breath, hands pushing past the hem of Draco’s shirt and fingers tracing over the offending marks. His firm grip meaning Draco couldn’t have squirmed away even if he wanted to. “You wear them beautifully but they shouldn’t be there at all.” And Draco would be lying if he said the sincerity in Harry’s voice didn’t have him flushing tomato red. He allowed Harry to kiss him again, relaxing, even as Harry’s hands continued to roam over his scars. Somehow, in the short time they’d been experimenting with one another Harry had quite literally fucked away any insecurity he felt around them. There was something in the way the darker haired man treated Draco that had made any self-doubt fall away. Being indirectly called beautiful helped a great deal. 

“I think you’ve almost apologised enough now.” Draco found himself teasing, resting his hands on Harry’s shoulders as the other man gripped his waist a bit tighter. They stayed like that for what felt like an age, unashamedly lost in each other's embrace but, it wasn’t long before realisation hit Draco and he jolted away from Harry, a somewhat panicked look in his eyes. “Fuck, I’m going to the Weasleys for Christmas!” Harry eyed him cautiously, brow furrowing.

“Um, yeah? I think we established that.” He replied, not quite understanding the urgency of the matter. Draco rolled his eyes because of course Harry didn’t get it. 

“I have to buy them gifts, right?” Harry’s frown deepened.

“Um, I’m not sure that's nec-“ 

“I do.” Draco cut him off before he could finish his objection. His question had been rhetorical.“It would not do to be in a pureblood family home for the holidays and not provide them with gifts.”

“Yeah but Draco, these are the Weasleys, they don’t exactly conform to traditions.” 

“That doesn’t matter, I need to get them gifts.” He responded stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re going to have to take me to Hogsmeade this weekend.” Harry just laughed, shaking his head and doing his best to pull Draco back into his arms.

“Whatever you say. You know Molly’s just going to knit you a jumper right, you don’t need to bot-“ 

“If you don’t shut it Harry I’m going to get everyone but you a gift.” 

“You’re getting me something?” The confidence in Harry’s voice was gone and Draco found himself blushing. Had he been too presumptuous? Although the boundaries of their arrangement were still pretty unclear he had assumed that, at the very least, they could be considered friends. And friends brought each other Christmas gifts, even if they happened to be shagging too, right? 

“Um, I was gonna but I don’t have to.” He mumbled, fidgeting with his hands a little awkwardly. Harry seemed to realise his mistake, pressing a gentle kiss to Draco’s forehead as if doing so would wash the blonde’s embarrassment away. 

“Hey, no, I didn’t mean it like that. You can if you want, I was gonna get you something too it just took me by surprise, ok?” Draco relaxed instantly.

“You bloody better.” He teased, smirking playfully. Harry just rolled his eyes, fiddling with the hem of Draco’s shirt for a few moments before speaking again.   
  
“Hey, since we’ve done absolutely no work and that's not likely to change wanna go to the prefect's baths to kill some time before dinner?|” He suggested, tone too innocent to be true. “It’s been a weird day, I don’t know about you but I could do with a long soak.” Draco couldn’t help but laugh at the man's attempt at nonchalance.

“Subtle Potter.” He rolled his eyes. “But yeah, a bath sounds good.” 

He tried not to think about how domestic they’d become in such a short period as they made their way to the prefect's bathroom. 

— — — — — 

The weekend came too quickly for Draco’s liking.  
Sure, years of lessons and lectures on pureblood traditions and etiquette made the decision to keep things traditional with regard to the Weasleys gifts uncomplicated. But, said lessons offered little guidance when it came to suitable gifts for Potter. After all, could anyone say with certainty what was appropriate when it came to giving their arch-nemesis come friend come friend with benefits a Christmas gift? The fact Potter had saved him from Azkaban, thus allowing him to keep his soul, only served to complicate his dilemma even further. Nothing he thought of seemed right and, he was hardly going to let Harry think he was inadequate when it came to gift-giving. The least he could do for the man was get him something good, given how the man brushed any attempt Draco made to thank him off. Of course, thanks to the ministry, his pockets were considerably lighter than usual but he was determined to make things work, determined to make his first gift to the-boy-who-lived special. 

Unfortunately, ensuring it was special, meant concealing his dilemma from Hermione, Ron and Harry himself. He wanted to get this right independently and so it wouldn’t do for him to accept pointers from someone else. 

No matter how much stress doing so would take-off of his shoulders. 

And so, despite the fact Hogsmeade meant a brief glimpse at freedom and a much-needed change of scenery, Draco had been privately dreading the trip. Further, he hadn’t quite figured out how he was going to get Harry’s present without the man seeing it, given that he wasn’t actually permitted to leave Potter’s side. He was pretty convinced that sneaking away was off the cards and, although asking Harry would likely go his way, he wasn’t sure he wanted the man knowing he cared enough to keep his gift appropriately hidden. It seemed that no matter which way he approached the whole gift-giving thing he came out looking rather attached to the other man. This wasn’t necessarily untrue, they were in all ways but physically, attached to the hip after all, but he didn’t want to come on too strong. The emotional side of their situation was a lot more complicated than the physical side and likely always would be. 

“Potter?” Draco set his now empty flagon of fire whiskey down on the table before him, trying not to pay too much attention to the numerous suspicious marks that stained the thick wood. Beggars couldn’t be choosers and, given how he was barred from the Three Broomsticks on account of him imperio’ing Rosmarta they’d had to settle for drinks in the Hogs Head. He sort of wished his father could see him here, the thought of the lecture he’d receive on dirtying the Malfoy name made his lips quirk up into a half-smile. Now that he had the gift of hindsight his father's questionable standards and hypocritical focus on the preservation of the family name were rather amusing. But that could also be the fire whiskey.

“Draco,” Harry replied, raising an eyebrow as he set his glass down. “Want another?” Draco immediately shook his head.

“No…” He trailed off, looking somewhat awkwardly at the bags beside him. It hadn’t taken him long at all to pick out enough sweets, trinkets and booze to make the Weasley family a Christmas hamper. Hermione’s gift had been even less of an ordeal given all he had to do was purchase a book off of the enchanted list she provided her friends with each year to ensure she wasn’t gifted duplicate copies or something she had no interest in. He had to admire her resourcefulness but he was getting off track again. “No, I mean… Could I have ten minutes by myself? I don’t want you to see your gift.” He half babbled, realising by the amused look on Harry’s face that he’d been paused for just a little bit too long. Harry inhaled sharply the moment he processed what Draco had asked of him, biting his lip harshly.

“I should say no.” He muttered after a brief pause, mimicking Draco’s earlier actions and focusing on anything but the man in front of him. “But for some reason, I trust you to behave.” Draco released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, shoulders visibly relaxing. He wasn’t sure why the knowledge that Potter trusted him had such a calming effect. 

“I’ll be good Potter, don’t worry.” He teased, doing his best to keep the atmosphere light now the only thing he had to worry about was picking something out in such a short time. Harry rolled his eyes, gesturing to the barkeep for another round as Draco made for the door. 

It took Draco less than five minutes to realise there was one small thing he’d forgot to factor into his plan to get Harry a gift. 

Well, two things really. 

He’d not only glossed over the fact the majority of Hogsmead was likely to hate him on account of his ex-death eater status but he’d also forgotten how well publicised the conditions of his bail were. No one in the small village liked him or trusted him and everyone knew he was supposed to be attached to Potters side. Both factors could be considered fairly significant oversights if taken separate of one another but, when combined they were a complete health and safety risk. Unfortunately, by the time he realised the error of his ways and the extent to which he’d left himself vulnerable to prospective vigilantes and/or wronged opportunists, it was already too late. Almost the second he walked past The Three Broomsticks he was stunned and disarmed, surrounded by a group of seventh years who had had more than their fair share of butterbeer. They were shouting at him, goading him into fighting back, seemingly having forgotten the fact that they’d stunned him thus rendering him incapable of responding. Eventually one of them seemed to tire, stepping forward and spitting on the ground beside him. 

“You should be fucking dead.” He muttered before kicking Draco hard in the stomach. “If I had it my way, you would be fucking dead.” And then he was waving his wand, casting some non-verbal spell that seemed to set every one of Draco’s nerves on fire. He screamed, loudly, barely processing that it was him making that noise before promptly passing out, body still jerking into foreign angles on the snow-covered cobblestones. 


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I hope you're all well. I'm sorry that is so short, my childhood cat passed away this weekend and I've had mock assessments to do for my master's degree as well. I'm hoping to be able to upload a bit more regularly but I can't promise anything.

“Rennervate.” 

A rush of adrenaline forced Draco’s body into a sitting position too quickly for his wake up to be entirely comfortable, leaving him dizzy and on the wrong side of nauseous. But, he couldn’t complain. In comparison to the many times, he’d been left to regain his consciousness in a dingy room of the manor, or at the Dark Lords feet, it was a gentle wake up. Far from the one he’d been expecting. Even his unconscious self had been acutely aware of the fact he’d been attacked and hexed. He hadn’t forgotten how real the threat of vigilante justice was for people like him. People who’d been on the wrong side of the war. But, despite this, he’d let his guard down. He’d been fooled by the illusion of safety and normalcy of life at Potter’s side. It was an error that could very well have been fatal. Thankfully, it seemed he wasn’t in any immediate danger anymore. Shaking his head to stop his thoughts getting any more macabre he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tightly, focusing on his breathing until it no longer felt like the room was spinning around him. The moment the feeling of seasickness slipped away he opened his eyes, biting back a groan and blinking furiously as adjusted to the fluorescent lighting of the sickbay. Having established he wasn’t being held in some dungeon by a group that would likely take great joy in peeling his fingernails off, he wasn’t surprised to find himself in the hospital wing, a rather anxious looking Harry at his bedside. 

However, the two Aurors standing at the end of his bed were the definition of unexpected guests. Despite still being groggy it didn’t take him long to realise that their presence was not positive. The concern that lingered on Potter’s face was enough to put him on alert.

“Draco Malfoy?” The taller of the two Aurors spoke, a little too loudly for Draco’s liking. He fought the urge to groan, not wanting to push his luck. 

“That’s me,” Draco confirmed, nodding slowly. 

“Today sat approximately 1400 hours you were spotted in Hogsmeade village without Mr Potter. A group of your fellow students, upon realising you were in breach of your parole, acted quickly and subdued you. You were taken back to Hogwarts by Mr Potter himself as one of the students very helpfully notified us of your breach. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Draco swallowed, hard, immediately lost for words. He was more than a little bit sure he hadn’t been hit by stunning hexes but of course, there was no way for him to prove that without having access to his attacker's wands. Somehow he didn’t think his request for their wands to be searched would be honoured and, if it was, he was more than certain the results would be skewed against him. 

“Um, I left Mr Potters side with his permission, with the sole intention of picking up a Christmas present for him.” He spoke eventually, cursing the way his voice shook as it certainly didn’t help his defence. Although he wasn’t sure that mattered too much. Their stern expressions indicated that they had already decided he had been up to no good. He wasn’t sure his words, even if they had been confident, could do anything to help his case. The smaller Auror smirked, shaking his head like a disappointed parent and clicking his tongue. 

“So you admit to breaking your parole conditions then?” He clucked again, his nasal voice making Draco shudder. It made Filch sound pleasant. Draco fidgeted with his bed covers, not sure what to say in this situation. His admission to leaving Harry’s side had clearly not worked in his favour. He opened and closed his mouth, struggling for words but, before he could speak, Harry cleared his throat and stood up. 

“Just to make things perfectly clear, if anyone is to be held at fault in this situation it should be me.” He said with a shrug as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Both Aurors frowned. The shorter one even chuckled.

“Mr Potter, you’ve done more than enough for Mr Malfoy here, you don’t need to jump to his defence.” It was a struggle for Draco to bite back a short laugh at the condescending tone the man used. That certainly wasn’t going to do anything to placate the man beside him. Harry was less successful in his efforts to hold back a laugh, openly chuckling as he crossed his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow slowly. The Aurors at least had the decency to look concerned. Draco was more than a little bit certain that they would be under strict orders to not piss off the saviour of the wizarding world. 

“If you would let me speak, that would be great.” He sneered, tone so venomous it could be considered worthy of Salazaar Slytherin himself. “Mr Malfoy hasn’t quite told the truth. I convinced him to leave my side. In fact, I practically begged him to do so because I wanted to purchase a present without him seeing. He objected to this, for obvious reasons, and is clearly trying to protect me rather than protecting himself.” Both Aurors had the decency to look surprised, mouths opening and closing as they struggled to find their words. Just as Draco had done previously. He found himself smirking, no longer so concerned about behaving himself now the tables had turned in his favour slightly. It didn’t take a genius to know that Harry was about to be given the benefit of the doubt. The Aurors clearly hadn’t prepared for the fact he might have something to do with this and Draco had the sneaking suspicion dealing with the boy-who-lived was already way above their rank.

“We’ll take your word for it this time Mr Potter but, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Wizengamot would like to remind you of the commitment you undertook at the start of the academic year. Should you encourage or contribute to the breach of Mr Malfoys parole again there will be consequences for you both.” And, with that, they apparated away. For a moment Draco was confused, blinking at the spot where they had been stood. If he was being honest the sight of someone apparating out of the castle was more than a little scary, given that it implied someone could potentially apparate in. Thankfully it didn’t take him long to realise that McGonagall must simply have temporarily modified the castle wards to accommodate the visiting law enforcement officers. He swallowed, waiting for his breath to return to normal before turning to face Harry, one eyebrow raised.

“You shouldn’t sully your reputation on my behalf.” He managed after a brief pause, scowling at the way Harry almost immediately rolled his eyes. 

“Your welcome.” The other man responded shortly, sitting back down in his chair. “Are you feeling ok? I can go get Madamme Pomfrey if you need pain relief or anything.” It was strange, to hear Harry so obviously concerned about him. A nice kind of strange, but strange none the less. He smiled, shaking his head.

“I’m tougher than I look, Potter.” He teased before stretching out, paying attention to each of his limbs. To his great relief, everything seemed to be in working order. Returning to ministry custody would be more pleasant than taking Skele-Gro or any other of the vile restorative potions Madamme Pomfrey kept in stock. “Do you know when I can leave?” 

“She said so long as you weren’t in pain you could head out as soon as the Aurors left,” Potter answered, nodding his head. “She already checked if there was any lingering curses or lasting spell damage and you’re in the clear, seems they really did just use stunners on you.” 

“Well just let me know if I start going funny on you so I don’t accidentally kill the chosen one,” Draco replied with a shrug and a half laugh as he got off the bed. “I think I’ll do my shopping via owl order from now on.” He muttered to himself, stretching out until the bones in his spine popped with a series of satisfying clicks. Harry gave him a sort of half-smile, jerking his head in the direction of the hospital doors.

“C’mon, let's get back to our room.” Draco nodded quite eagerly. Nothing sounded better to him than a shower and his own bed. “We can summon one of the elves to bring us dinner up if you like?” At that Draco raised an eyebrow, stopping in his tracks.

“Potter even you can’t just summon one of the elves away from their work.” He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. The darker haired man just smirked in response.

“Of course I can, I’m the saviour of the wizarding world.”

— — — — — — 

Pointed stares and hushed voices followed Draco and Harry as they returned to their dormitory. It didn’t take a genius to guess that the events of their trip to Hogsmeade were public knowledge, given how no one made any real effort to hide their topic of conversation. To Draco’s surprise, this unsettled him almost as much as the attack itself had. Of course, he was no stranger to being the subject of gossip, having spent his younger years revelling in the attention other students paid him, but he found his peers renewed interest in his life uncomfortable. It had taken a while for the study body to get over the fact he was back at Hogwarts. In fact, only now were things really starting to quieten down. He’d found himself embracing the fact he had begun to fade into the background but now, it seemed all of his progress was ruined. He may as well have been walking through the halls with a hippogriff, a centaur and phoenix by his side. All hopes of reaching a point where he could be considered inconspicuous promptly vanished.

“How long was I asleep for?” He was almost afraid to ask, fighting the urge to jinx Harry as he point blank refused to enter the common room first, half forcing Draco in through the portrait hole ahead of him. Although part of him was quite flattered by the concern the other man was showing for him he wasn’t entirely sure he was at risk of being attacked in the second or so he’d be just outside of Potter’s reach. 

“Only an hour or two,” Harry replied casually, shrugging his shoulders as he made a beeline for the staircase to their room. “Whoever hexed you could clearly do with practising their stunning spells.” Draco blanched. 

“Don’t go saying that out loud.” He muttered as he followed Harry closely. It hadn’t occurred to him, until that point, that his attackers could very well be people in the eight-year. People he had to share a tower with. The last thing he wanted was Harry goading them into doing some more target practice. 

“Oh, right, yeah.” Harry at least had the decency to sound sheepish as he pushed open their dorm room. After a short pause, neither of them taking the first step forward he gripped Draco by the shoulder and gave him a playful push into the room. 

“Oi, watch it!” Draco found himself squawking out as he stumbled forward, taking a couple of steps before managing to catch himself. “I’ve just been attacked you know, Potter. I don’t appreciate being pushed around.” To Draco’s great displeasure Harry just laughed, kicking his shoes off and flopping down on his bed.

“And I have it on good word that you’re going to be completely fine.” He replied with a grin, putting his hands between his head and raising an eyebrow in a way that could only be considered challenging. Draco narrowed his eyes in response, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I think you’ll find my pride is injured beyond repair.” He sniffed, slipping his own shoes off and putting them away before slipping his robes off of his shoulders. 

“Not your precious pride.” Harry gasped dramatically. “What are you going to do, tell your father about this?” It was quite clear from the way he immediately fell silent that Harry hadn’t intended to bring up Lucius Malfoy but, to both of their surprise, Draco’s immediate response was to chuckle. The mention of his father hadn’t provoked him, hadn’t triggered his flight or fight, hadn’t reduced him to a nervous wreck. Instead, he found the reference to his past, snotty self amusing. Eventually, the shock of what Harry had said wore off and, upon seeing that Draco was genuinely amused, the darker haired man let himself laugh along. After a couple of moments, Draco recovered, catching his breath and standing up a little bit straighter. 

“I’m going to go shower.” He announced, smirking playfully. “I think, following our encounter with the Aurors today, we probably shouldn’t risk me being caught alone again if you get my drift.” He added a wink for good measure, turning on his heel and heading towards the bathroom.

It took less than 30 seconds for Harry to jump up and follow after him.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year to my readers, old and new!
> 
> I'm sorry that this has taken so long for me to update and equally sorry for how short this is by my ordinary standards. I've had a bit of writer's block and have struggled a lot with dragging this story forward. I hope that you all enjoy, despite its briefness and I hope you are all keeping well.

The warmth of the shower, combined with the soft touch of Harry's hands as he worked to massage the knots out of Draco's shoulders, did little to relieve Draco of his stress. Under normal circumstances, the heavy spray of water, beating a tattoo on his back alone would be enough to distract him from his thoughts. The addition of Harry's hands would likely have sent him to euphoria had he been able to step down from high alert. However, no matter how hard he tried to focus on the firm pressure and the soothing sound of water on tile, he couldn't shake the growing tension blossoming in the pit of his stomach. Nothing about his attack, or the aftermath of it, made sense to him.

He was acutely aware, as he had been from the moment Harry first approached him regarding their arrangement that he was safest at the other man's side. Safer still, when showering with him within the walls of Hogwarts. Although this would usually soothe him, the fact that he'd been attacked mere moments after he left Harry's line of vision had driven home how fragile his safety, or rather his illusion of it was. Further, although Madamme Pomfrey had assured him that his attacker, or attackers, had simply stunned him, he couldn't shake the idea that she was wrong. He'd been stunned more times than he could accurately count on one hand and not once had he felt such intense, intrusive levels of pain. This anomaly was the primary source of his concern. He had no reason to doubt Madamme Pomfrey's assessment of his health; she was known for her impartiality and skill after all. There was no way she'd have messed up a diagnostic spell and even less of a chance that she'd deliberately withheld information. Even if she held some grudge against him, there was no way she'd lie to Potter's face. For her to not disclose something meant she likely hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary and that scared Draco more than he cared to admit out loud. Whatever spell his attacker had used was discreet but powerful. It had successfully mimicked a much simpler hex's physical impact whilst being powerful enough to evade the detection charms of a seasoned medi-witch. 

A spell with those characteristics could only be of dark origins. 

He swallowed as images of the headlines covering Theodore Nott's death flashed across his eyes. The guards in the Wizengamot holding cells had taken great pleasure in taunting him with the more graphic details of the attack. Their descriptions of the scene had painted pictures in his mind that haunted him for weeks. Yet, despite knowing that the vigilante groups were quite happy to toe the line between light and dark magic, he didn't think they were behind his attack. Everything he knew of Nott's murders pointed to bloodthirsty opportunists who were keen to operate in privacy. Although they very cleary bore shock factor in mind when it came to seeking their misguided 'revenge', he didn't think they'd go so far as to attack in broad daylight. Not when Potter, a man who had very publicly renounced their actions, was mere feet away. Draco took little pleasure in ruling them out as an option. Drawing a line through the one group who had made clear their goal to ensure the suffering of anyone they suspected of being involved with the Dark Lord, even if the law found them innocent, put him back at square one. He had no leads, no clues and, although he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was scared. If his attacker was half as persistent as those seeking vigilante justice, there was no denying that he would be attacked again. 

And the last thing he wanted was to be made an example for those who didn't believe Potter's defence of him. 

\- - - - - - - 

Despite his internal battle, the last thing Draco wanted was to bring Harry into the matter. 

It was far better for him to remain discreet. The less his attacker thought he suspected them, the more likely they were to let their guard down, to slip up in some way. He could hardly go sneaking around the castle like he had done so frequently in previous years. For one, the threat of his father wrath was no longer a reliable one. Everyone knew his father had gone quite mad. Threatening to tell his father of someone's actions towards him would make him the schools laughing stock, or earn him a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Even if he could still rely on his name to get him out of difficulty, there was, of course, a much more immediate threat to his safety. Looking for answers by himself and snooping around would only make him vulnerable to another attack. Whoever was behind the Hogsmeade incident had very obviously waited for him and Potter to separate. Whether this was because his attacker respected the other man, or because they didn't fancy their chances at beating him in a duel, the fact remained that Draco was safest by Harry's side. And so that's where he intended to stay. It wouldn't do him much good to get killed before proving that someone was, in fact, out to get him. Knowing his luck, if he died before seeking his own justice, he'd end up trapped in Hogwarts as a ghost for all eternity. Plus, he was pretty confident that not many people would bat an eyelid should he be killed. 

Spiting those who were intent on seeing Malfoy blood spill was motivation enough for him to do his best to an untimely end.

"Draco?" Potter's voice snapped him out of his daydream, causing him to choke slightly on the pumpkin juice he'd been absent-mindedly sipping. He did his best to regain composure quickly, sitting up a little straighter and attempting to look at least vaguely interested in his dinner. 

"Yes?" He replied as nonchalantly as possible. Potter simply raised an eyebrow.

"You're planning something." Draco choked once more, scowling as he dribbled pumpkin juice in a manner that was far from becoming. The smug grin plastered on his face was proof enough that he'd waited until Draco took a drink before speaking. He'd timed his verbal attack perfectly. Draco knew Harry well enough to be sure that there was no way he would take Draco's spluttering as anything but evidence in support of his statement. His reaction, although innocent, had proven his guilt.

"What makes you so sure of that?" He quipped back, doing his best to seem casual as he spelled away the spilt juice. Harry just continued to smirk, expression only growing smugger as he watched Draco fuss over cleaning his shirt. To both of their surprise, Hermione was the one to answer Draco's question, tone laced with exasperation. 

"Maybe it's because, for the last 7 years or so, he's spent half his time keeping an eye on you?" She quipped as if she was simply correcting someone's homework. Harry had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed, eyes rolling and grin fading as he turned his attention back to Draco. 

"It doesn't matter how I know you're up to something." He muttered as if he couldn't say the words quick enough. "The fact is that you are." If Hermione noticed how he emphasised his point by glaring quite ferociously at her, she paid him no attention. Draco couldn't help but snigger. There were still moments where he found Hermione's seemingly unfaltering ability to be right infuriating. But, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the way she so casually put Potter in his place. The boy who lived had plenty to be smug about, Draco didn't want his ego growing any further. 

"Well, Potter, since you're so clearly onto me." Draco drawled, raising an eyebrow and doing his best to remain calm. If he were going to get Harry off his trail, confidence would be his best friend. "I have to tell you that I've been plotting my escape for weeks now. I've convinced Myrtle to show me how to access the schools draining system and plan to wriggle my way out through the pipes. If the Basilisk could fit in them, I'm sure that I could." Silence fell between them but was quickly broken as Hermione erupted into a fit of giggles. Bewildered, Draco turned to the witch and blinked in surprise as she continued to laugh, face reddening and hands clutching her stomach as though it hurt. Try though he did he couldn't resist grinning himself, finding her outburst strangely endearing. Potter and Weasley seemed to share the same sentiment. They sat like that for longer than they really should have until eventually, Hermione regained her composure.

"Blimey 'Mione," Ron muttered, patting her on her back as she caught her breath. "The git isn't that funny." And, maybe Draco truly was going insane because he could have sworn Ron sounded almost friendly, despite his trademark name-calling. Either way, he was grateful for the distraction Hermione had caused. The conversation changed quickly as Ron quizzed Hermione on how her classes were going, very obviously fishing for homework help. Draco contributed very little to the new discussion. Still, he was careful to look as interested as possible, chiming in at just the right time, offering enough information to seem like he was paying attention. He hadn't been subtle enough in his worrying. That much was obvious. Although part him was aware that it would be easier to tell Potter his suspicions, the stubborn part wanted the opportunity to figure things out for himself. 

The longer he thought about it, the more apparent it became that this was about more than finding who had targetted him. He didn't just need the challenge. Or the peace of mind. He needed something that could be just his, something that Potter wouldn't immediately know about or share with him. He had always valued his privacy and, although his time with Potter was no longer dreaded, he was still desperate to claw back some of his old life. Having a secret, a goal that only he was truly aware of was one means to that end, one step in the direction of normalcy. 


End file.
